Oh, Bloody Hell
by SuperDork1346
Summary: When everything falls into place, you celebrate. But what happens when Percy and his friends go over board at camp? Well, punishment needs to be put in place. So Chiron decides to send the councilors off to school. With relationships, school work and family...who knows what's in store. (Try not to make it a stereotype) (Has 2ndary characters, equal to the seven) (Maybe a bit T )
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: If you recognize a character, it belongs to Rick Riordan. Only things that belong to me are the plot, and some OC characters.**

Prologue:

 _Camp Jupiter:_

Reyna watched the camp from her favorite spot, and didn't really notice when the old oracle walked up behind her. Though the voice surprised her, she didn't jump like she would have if she hadn't had so much battle training.

"You know, Piper mentioned something her mom said to you. And I was wondering if you wanted to talk about it." The red head sat down next to the predator, a small smile creeping it's way onto her lips. It was almost the end of the summer, and they had finished a lot of the work. Well, more than they'd hoped for at least.

Reyna looked at her new friend with a pained expression. "I know you have come to help me get over this, but as far as my knowledge goes you have no understanding of what or how I'm feeling." In truth? She had been battling some feelings for a while now, and Aphrodite's words had just made that battle harder. She wanted to be a good predator, a good roman. But sadly, her heart and feelings weren't with the program.

Rachel shrugged as she looked out over the landscape of New Rome. "I might not, but I know how it feels to try hard to fit into the outline that's created for you and have someone's words turn that upside down. Piper was the one to tell me, but...She was the one to help me come to terms with it."

Reyna looked at the other girl in surprise as she let her guard down a little. It was a pain, but it usually happened around Rachel. "What do you mean, come to terms?"

Rachel stared out the ground, clearly more interested in the plants then the topic. "Well, my dad was very conservative. Men were the leaders, woman did the work in the house. People couldn't change gender, or like certain people. It was against his rules. So when I started to like this person, he shot down any idea of me ever dating someone. All because the person I liked, was a girl. So until Piper talked to me, I had never really opened up about the fact that...I'm bisexual."

Reyna stared at her this entire time as Aphrodite's words clicked into place. ' _You will not find love where you wish or hope_ '. That referred to it being anyone she had like previously, and what Rachel was mentioning. ' _No demigod shall heal your heart_ '. And it was true. Then who was left? The clear sighted mortal. The clear sighted _girl_ mortal before her. And then all the feelings she had pressed down since she met her came out in the form of a blush, and the whisper of, "Me too..."

When Rachel turned, Reyna saw the same thing that she was feeling in the other girl's eyes. The redhead leaned forward, glancing at Reyna's lips and then her eyes. You can't exactly kiss the praetor of the twelfth legion without permission.

That permission came in the form of Reyna closing the distance.

 _Quebec:_

Calypso laughed as her boyfriend stumbled towards her with their hot chocolate. She was currently leaning on Festus, wrapped up in her warmest clothing. She played with the necklace he had gotten her when they went to Paris. He had taken her to every country he could think of, for as long as they could they explored. Until they got bored, and went to the next one. They went to Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Ireland, England, Turkey, Japan, China, Russia (almost got shot down on the way there though), Brazil, India, Australia and Africa. Not specifically in that order. Now, they were at their final stop before going to camp Half - Blood. Canada.

Leo handed her her mug before sipping his quietly for a few seconds. "You know, the snowflakes make your hair shinier." Since they were so close to the northern wind, it was lightly snowing with no real effects to the ground.

Calypso rolled her eyes at his comment, but kissed his cheek anyway. "Leo, I'm scared about going to the camp. What if they don't except me? What if the gods send me back and take you to the underworld for disobeying the laws of nature for coming back? What if Percy and Annabeth...?"

Leo pressed a light kiss to her forehead to let her know everything was okay. "I'm sure they'll understand, and at the very least will just be polite around you, just not friends. The gods won't do either of those things, considering I saved the world and sacrificed my life to do it. Plus, they were already supposed to let you go but they didn't listen." He took a deep breath before continuing. "And if Chiron or Mr. D do anything to try and force you out of camp, I will realise bloody tartarus on them." He smiled as he took another sip of his drink before finishing. "You know why I would do all this? Because I love you Sunshine."

Calypso smiled happily, before saying, "You know what? I think I know why I didn't like you in the beginning. The curse was lifted, so neither of us were forced to fall in love with each other. So the reason you could come back was because you really did and do love me. It wasn't just the curse."

Leo's smile was so big they could probably see it from the bottom of Mexico. "I think it's time we head home. There's a lot of making up for lost time we have to do. Besides, the summer is almost over. I couldn't miss school!"

Calypso laughed as she shed her winter gear and climbed onto Festus's back. "You coming, Leo?"

 _Camp Half-Blood:_

It was a week before the end of camp, and two before the start of school. Will had decided that enough was enough. "Hey Cecil, can you do me a favor?" Even if he wasn't in the room, that boy just knew.

The goofy son of Hermes popped up from behind a bed that was unoccupied, and grinned. "Hey Will, what do you need? I mean, obviously you don't want me to take over since I would do more harm than good."

Will rolled his eyes at his best friends antics, and sighed. "Go get Lou. I want her to take over my shift, so I can go hang out with Nico...And you know, confess." When those words came out of his mouth, there was a whoop from Cecil and a cloud of imaginary dust where he was once standing.

Nico had spent three days on full time bed rest in the infirmary in isolation, with Will fussing over the slices taken out of him from his fight with the werewolf. The sun of Apollo couldn't even think the name of that beast without waiting to smash one of the beds into pieces. Did I mention he hated violence?

"The queen has arrived, you may now go off and get some tongue from the boy you are madly in love with. Go find Nico." Lou Ellen grinned as she quickly set to work looking over people's injuries and making their day.

Little did Will know, there was an extra shadow in the room. Ignoring everything around him, Will went off looking for the younger boy. He finally spotted him walking into the woods towards Zeus's fist. He ran off after him, and they reached the clearing at the same time.

Nico was acting weird. He was redder than usual, he wasn't demanding to know why Will followed him, and he wasn't smirking. Then, he spoke. "You know, leading people on is cruel. Especially when you lie to other people about it too."

Will gave him a look before flat out saying, "What do you mean?" And then his mind connected the dots. The slight blushes on Nico's cheeks, the glances when he caught Nico looking at him while he worked, how he asked to stay another day since he wanted to make sure the scars were healed properly...the extra shadow when he was talking to Lou.

"I heard what Lou said to you. I really thought you liked me for a few seconds, but I guess I was wrong. I mean, it just felt nice to be on the receiving end of a crush. I didn't like you..." Nico was a good liar, and both of the boys knew it. Just one problem. He couldn't lie to Will. No matter how hard he tried. The sun of Apollo could hear his heart rate increase, his blood running to his neck and a lot of other tell tale signs. But he never said anything.

Will couldn't help it. He laughed. He bent over, held his stomach and cried. That was how hard he was laughing. When he finally calmed down, he saw Nico sitting on top of Zeus's fist, glowering at him. "I'm sorry, let me explain why I was laughing." He walked closer so he didn't have to yell. "What you just said, was complete and utter bull shit. I mean, you heard Lou right of course, and I'm not in love with you. But, I do have a crush on you." He moved so he was sitting next to Nico. "I have since that day on the hill. It just kind of got bigger after that. I mean, I made up excuses to see you. Not the three days in the infirmary, that was to keep you alive. But I would check your bandages more then I needed to, or ask if you wanted anything to much, I did a lot of that. And it wasn't just to show you that I cared. It was for me too..."

Nico looked at him in surprise before gently laying his hand on top of Will's. "I'm sorry...I should have trusted you, it's just..." And that's when Will saw how tired he was. There were black rings under his eyes, he looked thinner than when he was in the infirmary...

Will in one quick motion grabbed his arm and rolled up his sleeve. "Nico..." There were only a few, but it was enough. "You look me in the eyes right now." And when he finally did, there was an expression no one had ever seen on his sunny face. It was dead serious, and completely protective. "You are going to start eating whatever I give you during meals, and will have to since I am now going to sit at your table with you. If you still haven't finished by the end, I don't care. I'll sit with you til you do. Got it?" When Nico nodded, he continued. "Another thing. You are going to have a roommate. I am going to make sure you go to sleep at a reasonable time, and wake up at one. Any nightmares what so ever I'm up to help. Got it?" Again, but this time more reluctant. "And finally. If you ever feel like you need to do this then you come to me. I won't say a damn thing to anyone else, in fact I will help you heal them in your cabin if you want. But before you even look at something to self harm with, you find me. I will drop everything...for you."

"On one condition." Will waited for some big favor, or maybe even better a date. "The only thing you don't drop everything for is helping a camper that could die if you leave them. I'll go to Jason, or Percy if you are. Deal?" Nico looked so serious. But his blush was gone, and so was the anger in his eyes.

"Deal." Will smiled lightly, and pulled his hands away. "Now, it's almost lunch. Let's head back, without shadow traveling. I don't want to have to sing to heal you again since it's for emergencies only. I hate when you are so badly hurt you're an emergency."

Nico smiled shyly before whispering, "Will? I'm not ready to date anyone yet. I want to get back to the way I was before I left camp before any of that. At least, better than I am now. But, if you want...we can see what happens next after that."

Will smiled so brightly that the shadows that clung to Nico disappeared. "I'd like that. Now come on." They started heading back. At the tree line, Will felt a cold pressure touch his palm, and found that Nico was holding his hand. He squeezed it lightly as they walked, and understood when Nico pulled his hand back when they got to the edge of camp. It was going to be a long road.

Later, at lunch...

Jason watched as Nico and Will walked in together. He waved, and actually got one back from both of them. To his surprise, both sat down at the Hades table. Chiron didn't seem to care where any one sat, and nodded at Jason who smiled thankfully. He jogged over to sit with them and slung an arm around Nico. "Hey, looks like I can sit with you now cuz!"

Percy sat down next to Will with Annabeth and Piper right behind them. "So. Is this our new seating arrangements from now on?" Percy had an arm around Annabeth, who was playing with a ring on her right finger.

Nico groaned. "Guys, it was bad enough with Will. Now you're going to give.." As if on cue, his other two friends at camp showed up to take up most of the room left. "Oh great. Can we get food now?"

Will whispered something to Nico, who stayed at the table while everyone else went to go get food. After everyone had sent a tribute to the gods, the eating began.

Suddenly Juniper and one of her friends came in with two plates full of food. The giggled as they placed them down in front of Nico. "Will sent in a special order for you, so here you go. I added some italian stuff too, like the Hazelnut cinnamon rolls." She blew Grover a kiss, who was over by Chiron, before heading back to the trees.

Jason watched as Nico tried one of the cinnamon rolls, and grinned as he watched his 'little brother' turn into a little kid again. He started eating his own meal after a few seconds.

Nico was stuffing his face like there was no tomorrow and kept liking his fingers after he finished off one type of something. Suddenly he said something in italian, the most childish look on his face you could imagine. "Oh mio Dio, è così buono ... Ancora, ancora! Per Favore." (Oh my God, it's so good ... More, more! Please.) (Used google translate, sorry if that's not actually how you say it)

Will shook his head, laughing slightly. "You cleared both plates Death boy. Ma solo per quello sguardo vostro darmi, farò in modo che sia questo ogni giorno. Ok?" (But only for that look you give me, I will make sure that it is this daily)

"Grazie! E come fai a sapere italiano?" Nico looked at him confused before blushing... "Lasciami indovinare. Parlo nel sonno e preso su di esso?" When Will nodded he groaned. "Io odio Will Solace." Before Will could retort, Nico's eyes widened. "E '..It can't be. No, he...I knew it wasn't normal!" He looked towards half blood hill, making everyone do the same. "I'm gonna kill him." (Thanks! And how do you know italian?) (Let me guess. I talk in my sleep and you learned from there) (I hate you Will Solace)

"Who?" Jason asked before the smell it him, and he bolted from his chair towards the hill. There was only one reason there would be tabasco sauce and oil in the air, was a dragon. And that dragon was Leo's.

Piper charged right behind him. Suddenly they spotted Festus, landing by the volleyball court. What they failed to notice was there were two riders. As soon as Leo was safely on the ground, his best friends attacked. Punching and kicking and hitting, Piper was crying...Finally they stopped and just stared at him.

Leo now had a split lip, and a few bruises. "So I take it you guys aren't happy to see me? So I guess I'll just.." In two seconds all of his friends were crushing him in hugs. Annabeth and Piper were bawling and swearing at him as they kissed his cheeks.

"Never, ever. Do that again." Percy was giving him the most terrifying glare of all time, that almost everyone would have shied away from. But Leo stood his ground.

"I won't have to. The only reason I left was because someone needed a ride. I think you'll recognize her." Leo held out a hand, and a beautiful girl climbed down next to him before sliding herself under his arm. "This is my girlfriend, Calypso."

Everyone stood there in shock before Percy started apologizing over and over, and then realization set in. "You cursed Annabeth." When she nodded, and stared at the ground mutely..all he said was, "You couldn't have known it would be taken out. Just like I couldn't have know the gods would go back on something they swore on the river styx to do."

Leo rolled his eyes. "They only partially didn't. I mean, the curse was broken. But they just didn't take her off the island. I mean, she hated me at first. So curse gone!" He grinned before pressing a light kiss to his girlfriend's temple. "Now I need to iris message Camp Jupiter so I don't get the crap beaten out of me again when they visit next."


	2. Bad News

Chapter One - Bad News

Katie's POV

Of course my boyfriend just had to get all of us in trouble. He just had to suggest a huge party for the councillors and the older kids from the Hephaestus cabin that would take place around midnight out in the woods. Though it was major fun, Chiron caught us. And boy was he pissed. "Of the most irresponsible things you could have done, a party!"

Just to make matters worse, Leo grinned up at the centaur. "Well, we only invited councillors and senior campers from my cabin. We didn't want any little kids there because it was way past when they should be asleep and they might get hurt if a monster attacks." His hair was left alone, but his outfit looked better. He was wearing a clean white dress shirt and dress pants. He had on black sneakers, his suspenders and his tool belt.

"Well, that makes it all better..." Chiron's voice dripped with sarcasm before turning to the Stolls. "But did anyone care to notice that all of your drinks were alcoholic?" He was glowering at the two boys, and suddenly I joined him.

Travis, who had actually combed his hair, shook his head. "I swear it wasn't me. Considering most of the girls there would make sure I couldn't have kids after this if I had, I didn't even think to try since..." And then he shut up.

Chiron turned away from Travis to focus his look on Connor while all the girls awed at Travis. "And you?"

As it turned out, it was actually Cecil and Lou Ellen courtesy of Drew's charmspeak. Then, Chiron gave out the punishment. "I think it would be a wonderful experience for you all to go to school! I'll tell everyone where they are going later, a list will be sent to each of the kids already going. Also, the gods have decided to help by getting each set of students their own apartment or house to stay it."

When the list came out, it showed as follows:

Goode (With Percy and Annabeth):

Jason Grace

Piper Mclean

Nico Di Angelo

Will Solace

Lou Ellen

Cecil

Leo Valdez

Calypso (Pretend to be Piper's Sister) Mclean

Katie

Travis

Clarisse La Rue

Chris Rodriguez

Johnson Prep (With Butch):

Clovis

Pollux

Drew

Nyssa

Miranda

Connor

Note: Some Romans will be joining you, along with a hunter for each group (recruits)

Second Note: You will continue with jobs for Olympus on weekends, and after your done your HW

I had to pinch myself a few times before I could believe it. "He split up Travis and Connor?!" I turned to see how they were reacting and what I saw broke my heart for two reasons.

Connor was shaking, and silent tears rolling down his cheeks. Travis was going to a school in New York, and Connor was going to Chicago. They were going to be about 850 miles apart. "No, no, no. He..." Seeing peoples reactions, he quickly said, "Who's going to pull pranks with me? Who's going to help me deal with Drew and Miranda?" But the two of us knew better.

I grabbed their hands and dragged them to my cabin which was empty at this point since everyone was either looking at the school assignments or in the strawberry fields. "Connor, look at me."

Connor was really shaking and he wouldn't open his eyes. After the whole thing with Pollux losing Castor his biggest fear had been losing Travis, even if they weren't twins. It got worse after Travis got put into a coma for a week after the Giant war.

Travis wrapped his little brother in a hug and all he did was whisper, "I'm right here. I'm right here." Over and over again. He looked at me for help, and suddenly I saw it. Travis was about ready to cry to, but he was being strong for his brother. He was trying to be the hero.

I kissed both their foreheads. "Hey, I have an idea. And considering it's a huge prank on my cabin, you better help me with this or I'm losing my spot as counselor." When I saw Connor open his eyes and the shaking subside a bit, I smiled. "Okay. What is the one thing that my cabin hates most?"

Connor started grinning to. "You don't mean..." When I nodded his look turned slightly evil, pain forgotten. "We would have to make sure Chiron, and the gods were in on the prank. That way they wouldn't kill either of you..."

Travis looked back and forth between us before becoming considerably pale. "What are you guys thinking?" And then it hit him. "No, no way in bloody hell. Your family would murder me!"

"It's only a little pregnancy test here, a few snappy comments here, and eating more. Also a few well placed, 'It's for two now''s on your part. Maybe putting your hand in front of my stomach when your defending me..." I nudged him and gave him my best pouty look. "Maybe even letting them find us making out a bit, which means doing it way more..."

Connor gagged while Travis sighed. "Fine. Under one condition. We get Chiron to send some children of Mercury to where Connor is. That way he'll at least have some half siblings."

I nodded with a wild grin on my face. "This is going to be fun. Connor, can you go...collect, some supplies? We need to tell Chiron and our parents."

Connor bolted out of the room as fast as he could, happy to be able to leave the cabin without a scratch for once.

Suddenly warm lips were pressed against mine, my knees finding the mattress of my bed as we moved backwards. I moved so I was lying on my back with my head on my pillow, and grinned up at him. "Or, we could go find them in an hour." And the lips were back on mine as my fingers wrapped around the curls of his hair, and my other hand traveled up his shirt. I could feel the six pack he worked so hard to get, and smiled against his lips as he flipped our positions in one fluid motion. Suddenly it was me on top, with his hands in my back pockets.

Travis pulled away for a few seconds to look at me and whisper, "I love you, Kit kat." Then his lips were on my neck, making me shudder from how good it felt as I tilted my head to give him better access.

"I love you too. But we better..." I gave up after he left a hickey on my collar bone. "Two minutes. Then we tell Chiron."

Well, you see you can't keep track of the time when you're kissing a Stoll. Just so you know that's all we did, my hand going up his shirt was the worst thing. So when a few of my siblings came in looking for us, they found me straddling his lap.

Miranda made a disgusted face, and looked away. "Ew! Get out of our cabin Stoll! Paws off our sister." She covered Johnny's eyes since he was only thirteen even if we had caught him kissing a daughter of Hebe.

Travis pulled away pouting. "Put I can't get up if she's on my lap, I might hurt her." From the glares he got from my brothers, he quickly stood with me in his arms. He put me down before dragging me out of my cabin. "Now we go tell Chiron."

I rolled my eyes at him and redid my messy pony tail. "Yah think?" I walked with him hand in hand to the big house, to find Chiron talking quietly with Mr. D. I waited for them to turn their attention to us before speaking. "Chiron, you split up the Stolls. Big mistake, Connor started bawling and shaking. So I kind of hand to let him do a major prank on my cabin and let them think I was pregnant. So if you hear a rumor about that, this is the reason why. Gives Connor something to think about other than being severed from his other half." I was never usually this blunt and forward, but I was mad.

Chiron took a few minutes to register my words. "I can see why you would let me know, but you know I can't condone this. As..." He was cut off by my glare, which surprised everyone there including me.

"Chiron, it's either you let this prank happen which it will go on with or without your permission, or you let the Stoll brothers go to the same school. It is not negotiable, not up for discussion and definitely worth possibly getting kicked out of camp or incinerated my Mr. D for. Connor and Travis only have each other, do you know their mom died while Travis was in the coma? He never got to say goodbye or tell her he lived. Connor had to deal with a loss and a possible one for over a week. Now you tell me exactly why I'm being unreasonable, and rude. Tell me why Mr. D should punish me." I was radiating green and I knew it. These two boys had been my friends since I got to camp. My cabin may respect me and love me as a half sibling but those two idiots were my family. And I was going to protect them. No matter what.

Mr. D looked me over before I smile grew on his face. "You finally got guts Kathy. I'll go inform your mom about the prank though I think she already knows. Though next time you cross one of us I won't be so forgiving and understanding." His disappeared leaving the smell of wine behind.

Chiron stared at me with a mix of emotions in his eyes. Anger, recognition, sadness... "I have an idea. If you can figure out a way for all of you to go to the same school without attracting too many monsters, find a way to get your own apartment and find an excuse as to why so many kids are transferring to one school..I'll let you all go to Goode at the end of the summer. But just remember Katie," his eyes showed just how little he liked being yelled at. "I am assistant director to this camp. I will let this slide due to understanding how much stress has been placed on you, and how protective you are of the brothers. But a second time will end in a suspension from camp. Understand?"

I nodded in recognition before thanking him and walking away. "Alright Travis, got any ideas?" I turned to him only to find the most shocked expression you had ever seen. "What?"

"You just...and he didn't..." He looked like he was trying to find the right words, but instead he just kissed me lightly. "Gods, you're amazing. You know that, right?"


	3. Girl Power

_Annabeth's P.O.V_

I was already freaking out about going to school with Percy. I was staying with him and his family until we could figure out other living arrangements. But then I get dropped with dealing with most of the head counsellors going to the same school as me. I couldn't deal, I needed something to do, something to focus on. I almost literally kissed Katie when she came to me.

The girl showed up in front of me just as I was leaving a pleasant time hanging out with Percy at the bottom of the canoe lake. I was of course dry. Katie looked at me with her expectant green eyes and grinned. "Sorry to ask you do do this since it'll distract from Percy's abs, but I need some help." She fixed the strap of her plain green tank top while she talked. She explained the whole scenario to me quickly. As she spoke, I looked over her outfit. She was wearing brown shorts under the tank top and also sandals. The sandals had brown bottoms but green straps and a sort of lettuce looking kind of ruffle right before her ankles. Around her neck she wore a gold chain with a green flower charm that Travis gave her. And dangling from her ears she wore bronze roses with a pearl in the center pushing out the petals. Finally on her wrist she had a single strip of pearls with a white daisy in the center. Very Katie.

I tapped my finger on my leg as I thought. "I have an idea but I'm going to need some help to make this work." I walked quickly over to the arena to find Piper training Calypso in more modern fighting techniques and simple ways to take down an opponent. "You two, my cabin in three minutes." I turned to Katie and motioned for her to go with them. Hopefully they would explain. I ran over to the Hermes cabin and barged in. "Hey Lou."

Cecil and Lou Ellen were expertly making something for a prank or theft they wanted to do. A black hooded figure known as 'Lou' stood up. She pushed the cloak hood back and turned to me. "Hey Annabeth. You aren't going to get us in trouble, now are you? I mean it's for Drew..." Her hair was cotton candy pink with the tips and her bangs a similar color of blue. Her eyes went from green to purple every few seconds. Under the cloak she was in a simple pink tank top, black jean shorts and flats.

"I'm not going to. But I need your help and...your powers." With that I turned around only to find her right in front of me. I explained on the way to my cabin what was going on. As soon as I stepped in I was greeted by the sight of a few completely differently dressed girls.

Katie, who was fiddling with a pencil as she leaned on my desk, was in the same one as before, obviously. But Piper was in a blue t shirt with a black dove on the front, skinny blue jeans and black combat boots. She was lazily sitting in a chair. Calypso was wearing a simple white greek style dress with golden calf sandals. She was also in Leo's army jacket, which she had some how made from memory.

"Alright. So basically we need living arrangements, a reason for all of us transferring as well as a way to keep monsters away. Calypso and Lou I need you two to whatever magic you can think of to protect the school as well as where ever we're living. A barrier kind of thing maybe. Something to keep them off our scent. We can protect ourselves everywhere else since we won't all be together." I walked over to the wall next to my bunk and quickly hit a button on my headboard that only responds to me. "You can use this computer to help, see if this has ever been done."

Calypso nodded before her eyes lit up. "Hold on." She pulled out a phone type thing and sent a quick message to someone. "Leo and I have been working on monster proof tech stuff so I just asked him to enlist Nyssa's help since I can't be there. It'll help with the monster situation."

I nodded and gave her a grateful smile. "Okay. Piper I want you to think of a bunch of reasons why we might be transferring. Katie and I will be working on the living arrangements." I turned to my desk where I quickly grabbed my phone. I pulled up Rachel's contact and grinned. She picked up on the second ring. The conversation went like this:

 _ **R:**_ _Hey Annabeth, what's up? You miss me too much?_

 _ **A:**_ I do miss you but I need some help. I remember your dad promised you anything you wanted if you went home for the school year. What did you ask for again?

 _ **R:**_ _The top two floors of one of the best apartment buildings in New York by Goode. I told him that I would get the best grades possible and make sure I applied for the best schools in the country when I sent out stuff for college. It was the only way for him to let me go to Goode with you guys! Anyway, I can't believe I asked for something that weird. It felt like Apollo was telling me to or something but I don't know. What do you need help with?_

 _ **A:**_ I think Apollo was talking to you, or at least you had a vision in a dream that got you to say it. What ever it was, I need that two floor apartment. The head councilors and a few others got in trouble for a party in the woods, so we're all being sent to school. One of the conditions for us all being able to go to the same one is having a place to stay. Do you know how many bedrooms?

 _ **R:**_ _Almost the whole top floor. So, thirteen I think. Maybe fourteen. Actually that sounds better, fourteen. And then there's...two balconies, a roof access and two really big bathrooms. Like, two showers in each and about four sinks big._

 _ **A:**_ Woah. What else is there?

 _ **R:**_ _Let's see...There's an elevator that brings you to each floor in the penthouse and it only goes between those two and the lobby. It's a private elevator my dad had installed. He owns the building. On the bottom floor there's a game room, a kitchen, a living room, a library, a dining room, a computer room that he hasn't put anything in yet...I'll make a list later. Oh, and is this why Reyna has been talking to Gwen and some of the older kids here about looking after the camp? Is she going to Goode with us?_

 _ **A:**_ Is there something you need to tell me Rach?

 _ **R:**_ _Yeah...Reyna and I have been dating for about two days now. Tell Piper for me! The thing her mother said was right I'm not a demigod nor is this very roman._

 _ **A:**_ I'm so happy for you! Bye Rach, text me that list!

After I got off the phone I stared at it for a little while. "Guys..." I looked up to find all their eyes on me. Piper had a pad of paper with a few idea written down and Lou Ellen looked so excited she could burst. "Rachel and Reyna are dating. Rachel said to tell you that that's what you're mom meant. Rach isn't a demigod nor is their relationship very roman."

Piper cheered before blushing. "I was kind of routing for both of them after I helped Rachel with coming out as bisexual. Anyway, you have some apartments for us?"

"A penthouse actually. Top two floors of the building with our own private elevator, fourteen bedrooms and a lot more." After figuring out it would have to be two to a room but we would all fit, I asked for a status report.

Calypso raised her hand before grabbing a piece of paper off the table when I nodded at her. "Well there are a few options. One is a cloaking spell on all of us but they would take a lot of magic, not really the best. Another option is something like we have here at camp. I mean, they owe you guys for what you did during the war so we could ask for protection around the school and our apartment. Obviously mortals would be allowed in since we'd need to do group projects according to Lou Ellen."

"Plus we could ask for transport to school. Like some cars or something that are monster proof. Some of us would have to get normal jobs to keep up with buying clothes, groceries and stuff, but it would work really well. Unless we asked for our food stock to always be full. That could be someone else's wish. I still think the jobs would be a good idea though." Lou Ellen was making tattoos appear on her arms before having them vanish.

Katie nodded before turning to Piper. "What ideas do you have so far?" She scanned the list Piper gave her and frowned. "Some of these are really good and others...You did them for jokes right?"

Piper shrugged. "It would be fun to convince them that we're all circus kids and our parents finally decided to let us go to school as long as we all went together. I mean, Drew could be a clown." Her voice was teasing, but a bit loving. Drew had gotten a bit nicer since she started hanging out with Connor.

We all laughed as she told us the rest of the goofy ones. Teen spies sent on a secret mission, orphans who were found by the police (since most people knew Piper's dad and Percy's mom that was out). The top three:

One, there was a fire at our private school and since Percy, who was sent there to visit, is Thalia, Jason, Nico and Hazel's cousin, they decided to go to his school. All their parents pitched in to get them the apartment and the cars.

Two, Rachel's dad doing a like a charity project and since Rachel knew all of them they were the ones he picked. They are all either children of single parents, orphans or have only relatives to take care of them. Now they don't have to move around.

Three, there was an exchange program. Not so realistic, but still...It was one of the only other options that made sense.

 _Nico's P.O.V_

 _Earlier..._

Now I never wake up early. But today must have been the exception. When my eyes opened I could see sunlight streaming through the window as it rose over the hill. I turned over to find Will sprawled across the other part of the pillow, grinning at me. "Shut up, sunshine." I was blushing though as I sat up against my headboard.

"Aw. Come on, admit it. You feel amazing since you got an actual night's sleep, about eight hours." He sat up too and pressed a light kiss to my forehead. "I'm going to go change before breakfast. I'll pick out an outfit for you that isn't completely black." His naked abs and sweat pants disappeared into the bathroom to change.

I tried to calm my racing heart as a small smile crept onto my face. It was true, I had just had the best sleep of my life. At the beginning of the night we were on separate beds. But when I woke up shaking from a nightmare Will had walked over and pushed me to the side of the bed while he climbed in next to me. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead. Then it was lights out for the rest of the night without dreams or even the usual nightmares.

When Will came out he riffled through my drawers. "Okay, you go take a shower while pick something out. Okay?" He turned to look at me while he stuck his hand through my jeans.

"Fine." I groaned as I walked over to the shower in my pajamas, grey sweats and a huge Pierce the Veil T shirt. The shower actually felt nice since Will had turned it on to a reasonable temperature, not how I usually had it. When I was finally done I didn't want to get out. But I knew I was going to have to eventually. I dried myself off and then turned to find that Will had placed some clothes on the closed toilet lid. They weren't bad. Dark red jeans that were a little bit too big (probably his), a black band shirt and black high tops. I changed into my clothes before drying my hair with the towel. No use in trying to comb it, it never worked.

Will looked up at me as I walked out and smiled. "You look so cute. Come on, it's about time for breakfast."

As usual my plate of food was huge. I mean, there were two of them for one. I glared at Will to pretend like I didn't enjoy his attention. He could push his boundaries sometimes, but he always made up for it in some way. Like those secret little kisses on my forehead, the hand holding, the hugs and the cuddling at night. It felt...special. Like I was having a dream for the first time since my mom died.

Will grinned at me as I pretended not to be starving but then gave up and devoured everything I could get my hands on. "Slow down or you'll choke. It's good that you're eating, but inhaling food is as dangerous as not eating any. Well, not as but still."

"Come on Will, I'm hungry. Tell him I can eat whatever way I like." I stared at Jason for help but he just shrugged. "Wow. Great brother you are. Percy, Annabeth?" I turned to them only to find surprised and amused faces. "I'm really feeling the love." I turned to my food but frowned into it before Jason spoke up.

"Sorry Bro, but Will gave us all this 'you argue you'll end up in my care' look." Jason shrugged before wrapping his arm around Piper. "He can be real mean about protecting his patients." He raised his eyebrows at us.

I shook my head to tell him that we weren't anything more. "Did you guys hear about that list that was posted? All of us gotta go to Percy's school." And with that I let them talk. I mainly focused on eating everything on both plates which was delicious as always and saying a few words when needed. When breakfast was over Percy and Annabeth went to hang out at the beach. Piper and Calypso went to train, then Leo went to the bunker. Jason told me he had to go design some more statues and temples before running off to his cabin. I turned to Will. "Looks like it's just you and me."

Will smiled brightly before giving me a pleading look. "I could really use some help in the infirmary, do you think you could lend a hand? Besides, I want to check up on you and see how you're doing healing wise."

"You can give me a check up. But I don't want anyone screaming when I come to help them. I'll just, get supplies or something." When he agreed, I allowed him to help me up before half dragging me to the infirmary.

Will pulled me over to a closed off area before pulling off my t shirt gently. He undid the bandages before looking closely at the werewolf scratches. "You look better, the stitches look okay...Any pain I should know about? The shower didn't irritate them did it?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "No, it felt quite nice. I'm better, really. Go to patients that need your attention." I slid my shirt on when he stopped looking and stopped him before he reached the door. I whispered a thanks before kissing his cheek. Then I left that area and found a spot where I could be called if needed.

Will went off to do whatever it was he did. A noise brought my attention to two younger kids, about eight or nine. The first had dark curls that reached her back, dark brown eyes and appeared very italian. The second was dirty blonde with blue eyes but had the same sort of italian features. The two girls both had identical leg breaks and couldn't reach what ever hit the floor.

I walked over nervously and picked up the object. It was a book with the name 'Septimus Heap'. "Here you go." I handed it to the girl with the dark curls.

"Thank you. Are you Nico, the son of Hades everyone talks about? You don't look so mean and creepy." She smiled at me happily before turning to her friend. "Will told us he was nice."

The other girl nodded. "Yeah. The older kids said you weren't exactly mean, just closed off and stuff. They also said you wore a lot of black which is what Tiana meant by creepy."

Tiana rolled her eyes. "Okay okay." She turned to me before smiling again. "I'm a daughter of Hecate and I'm italian too on my dad's side! That's Amelia, she's my sister. Well, half sister."

I looked at them wondering what was so innocent about these kids that they didn't understand that I was supposed to be hated. "It's nice to meet you two. And yeah, I'm Nico." Before I could ask what happened to their legs, Will ran in.

"Hi girls. I see you met Nico. We'll be back soon but right now we need to see our friends about some stuff. You better not break anything else of each others while I'm gone." Will smiled at them before pulling me out of the infirmary and over to a group of our friends on the hill.

I glared at him before turning to them. "What is so important that I needed to know right now?"

Annabeth grinned at me. "One, Reyna and Rachel are dating. Two..." And that's when I found out all about their plans. And that's when I found out that I was going to get to live with Will for an entire school year, with another LGBT couple. I was so happy I almost smiled. Almost.


	4. Parental Permission

_Percy's POV_

Even though it felt like I'd done it a thousand times, it still felt like nothing of what I was seeing should have been true. The nymphs and the satyrs running around and playing music. The minor gods and goddesses laughing, strolling through Olympus. The eight of us were watched as we passed, especially Calypso. She gave tiny waves and a few glares as we walked. She turned to me and I saw how much this was hurting her. But as soon as Leo kissed her cheek gently it all faded away into a smile. I turned to Annabeth who was holding my hand. "I hope you're mother doesn't blast us back to camp when we tell them about this. She'll hate me."

Annabeth laughed as she pushed a loose hair behind her ear. Both these actions were so mesmerizing I almost didn't notice when we made it to the throne room. But I noticed. "It was my idea to drag you along, she can't blame you." She whispered quietly before smiling at her mom as we walked in. "Hello mom, lord Zeus." We all kneeled after saying hi to our parents.

"Rise, heroes. Is there something of importance you need to tell us?" Zeus probably hadn't noticed Dionysus and Hermes giggling in the back ground. "Not another war, is there?"

Hazel giggled next to Frank before giving us greeks a bit of a glare. "No, lord Zeus. But the Greeks as well as Jason have brought a punishment onto all of us. Well, a sort of punishment. We are all to go to school with the rest of the head councilors from the greek camp. Care to explain, Annabeth?" She was smiling innocently but their was evil in her eyes. She was definitely my favorite cousin.

Annabeth fake glared at her. "Sure Hazel." She turned to the gods who were now looking at us in surprise and a bit of anger. "When Leo returned he also brought back Calypso, his girlfriend. Say hello, she's off the island!" She moved out of the way so the blushing titan could wave. "It was the most incredible day for all of us. But, we wanted to celebrate. So Travis Stoll, a son of Hermes, suggested we had a party. So we invited all of the head councilors and a few of Leo's older siblings to a party in the woods at midnight. We were all armed of course, but no monsters attacked. What happened was, two of the youngest campers there were charm speaked, not Piper, into spiking the drinks we had. And it got a little chaotic from there. So now we're being sent to school."

As all the gods processed this, Athena turned to glare at me. "And I assume it was you who caused all this?" She had her arms crossed and a glare on her face.

"No mother, in fact Percy and I were dancing most of the time. /he wanted to stay back because he was a role model for the camp but I was the ne to convince him to go." Annabeth turned to me to confirm.

I tried to remember the details, but I nodded. "Some of the campers had to be dragged back to their cabins because they stayed by the punch bowl. I remember because I had to carry Nyssa while you grabbed all the drinks away from people." I blushed as my dad rolled his eyes at me. "What?"

Zeus laughed and turned to his brother. "You see. Now I don't think we can ever figure out if he's a lightweight like you." He got a fist to the shoulder but he just fixed his robes. "Alright. So why have you come to us?"

Jason rubbed the back of his neck worriedly. "Well you see Dad, they split us up. Not us, but some of the other kids from their families. So Katie, a daughter of demeter, made a deal with Chiron. We needed a place to live, Rachel Dare the old oracle gave us that, a reasonable excuse for so many kids transferring, Piper gave us that. But now we kind of need the last part of the deal. Do you think you could give us protection from monsters at our apartment and the two schools? Some of the other kids are still going to school with Butch. He's a son of Iris by the way."

Aphrodite cooed. "I think it's a wonderful idea. We owe you seven that much, maybe even presents for each of you! Oh yes! Honey do you think you can make them cars or something?" She turned to Hephaestus who jumped in surprise at being mentioned by her.

He nodded slowly before turning to his son. "You wanna help kid? Could use an extra pair of hands." Their was this proud look in his eyes that I'm not sure anyone else noticed.

Calypso smiled before walking up to his throne and growing to be eye level with him. "Can I help too? Leo's kind of turned me into a mechanic." She gave him puppy dog eyes, which weren't really needed.

"Sure. Just don't get all lovey dovey on me while we're working, it's distracting." Hephaestus smiled at her. He was basically like her adopted dad and actually demanded a divorce from Aphrodite once the love curse was placed on the girl and her heart was broken.

Calypso hugged him quickly before shrinking down to a normal size. "Leo, how fast do you think I can make a car?" She crossed her arms and gave him a challenging look.

"Oh you're on Sunshine." Leo grinned as she walked over to him, kissing the top of her head. "I mean you'll probably win but who cares."

Aphrodite cooed again. "Aw, you two are so cute! I'm so happy I lifted that curse off the island..." She slammed her hand over her mouth but it was too late.

Everyone in the room was staring at her. Zeus looked torn between mad and guilty. Hephaestus looked ready to kiss her and Ares was glaring at Hephaestus. Calypso seemed to be trying to throw cut a fur ball. "Leo was right?"

Aphrodite blushed a bit before sitting up straighter. "Well since no one was getting you off the island I decided to take away the love curse. So when Leo landed on your island, that's why you hated him. And why the raft wasn't appearing, or any other heroes showing up. If you guys weren't really meant to be together, he couldn't have gotten to your island. How did you do it the second time?"

Leo looked about ready to go on this big rant about how he died but then Frank had the sense to cover his mouth. "Anyway, we appreciate your help. We should be going now." We bowed on our way out, not wanting to get them any madder at us.

Annabeth turned to me while the other's walked a head. "Was it just me or did some of the scars and burns fade from Hephaestus's face when Calypso hugged him?" Her eyes seemed to be working a mile a minute to figure out if I did too before I spoke.

"You know, you're right. I mean it wasn't really that noticeable but I think like three of them disappeared. I have the strangest idea and I don't know why I think this but since he was an unwanted baby, thrown literally off Olympus, twice...Do you think he's like that because no one has wanted him before? I mean, obviously the nereids who raised him but everyone seems to reject him. Even his own wife. So if when Calypso hugged him it was a sign of acceptance...Maybe they disappeared because he was shown something he never really got from anyone else." I shook my head after I said it, it sounded ridiculous.

"You may be right Percy. You're really smart sometimes, you know that?" She kissed my cheek before dragging me over to the others who were way ahead.

When we got back to camp, Calypso and Leo ran immediately to bunker nine where Leo got a message to meet. He even grabbed Nyssa who was glad to have an excuse to leave the forge and his youngest siblings to help. They were the ones who needed to meet their dad.

Katie was waiting for us with a nervous expression. She was pacing back and forth in front of Travis muttering something about breakfast cereal. "You guys get the protection shield?"

I grinned at her and nodded. She ran over and kissed every single one of our cheeks before grabbing Travis. "Thank you so much! Travis go stop you're brother, I'll go talk to Chiron." Katie bolted to the big house faster than we could process.

 _Piper's POV_

So we got permission to go to the same school and Chiron was setting it up. Yay! Now we needed to pack. Not so yay. I sprinted back to my cabin and informed Drew before turning to my own bunk. I grabbed all of my clothes, which was only a couple outfits and my camp stuff, before shoving them into a suitcase Chiron gave me. I put my toiletries into the case next before looking for my photos and such. I turned to find Drew staring at me from across the room. "What?"

"You have what, four outfits? Honey, no. We're going shopping after we get to the apartment. Girls first. I mean, I love yah sis...but everyone is going to know that you wear about the same thing every week. Just like...six more outfits and a ton of comfy stuff for the weekends. Please?" Drew gave me her puppy dog eyes which were actually very persuasive. She and I had an understanding since we knew our charmspeak couldn't work on each other.

I rolled my eyes at her before nodding. "Fine. But only if I get to pick out some stuff for you too." I was about to give her my signature 'I'm not budging unless this is fair' look but she was already agreeing. "Okay then." I turned to find Lacey already putting my photos into neat piles. "Thank you."

Lacey smiled before tears shown in her eyes. "Anything for our head councilor. And, Mitchell had this by his bunk...I want you to have the original. I have a copy of the photo but..." She placed it in my hands before running into the bathroom with tears staining her face.

Derek ran after her to try and comfort her while I just looked down at what she had put in my hands. "Mr. Dazzling, Pigtails and New Girl." I flipped it over only to have tears come pouring down my cheeks. Mitchell had his arms around Lacey and me with this goofy look on my face. We had taken it during breakfast so I was still in my PJs, Lacey had gotten her braces off and he had his sunglasses on the tip of his nose. We looked ridiculous. "Oh gods..." I tried blinking them away but I couldn't see the photo any more so I put it down before sitting on my bed with my face in my hands. "Why didn't you take those sword lesson you idiot? You knew you sucked." I didn't care that I was talking out loud.

A few of my siblings went to comfort me but there was pain in their voices. Mitchell had died during the war. He'd gotten a sword to the heart while fighting off a Dracaenae giving time for three of the younger campers to get out of the ground to finish her off. He wasn't the only one they lost at camp but he was the only one from the Aphrodite cabin. At least during the war. Some died of injuries at the infirmary that were too great.

Suddenly I felt strong arms wrap me up in a hug and the smell of burnt toast met my nose. "Oh gods Piper, I'm so sorry. I know you two and Lacey were close." He stroked my hair as I sobbed into his shoulder.

"I barely payed attention to him sometimes, I should have forced him to take more sword lessons." I had finally stopped bawling enough to speak. My voice was hoarse and weak.

"Piper you look me in the eyes and you tell me it's your fault. Was Leo's your fault? No. Was any of the other deaths your fault Piper?" When I finally looked at him he used his thumbs to wipe away my tears. "Piper you could have forced a lot of those kids to train more. But it wouldn't have mattered because some of them were better then you are with swords, or daggers or whatever they used. It doesn't matter how good they are, they still had a chance of falling. And some of them did. You can't change it Piper. No matter how forceful your charmspeak." He kissed my forehead as I let out the last of my tears.

Suddenly it hit me even though I never really realized it before. "Chiron isn't sending us away as a punishment, is he? He's giving us a vacation from being soldiers. Cause that's what we are, it's what we're made to be. ADHD to have heightened senses and reflexes, following instinct." I remembered going to a museum with my dad and seeing photos from a war where they used child soldiers, teenagers. There were these groups of older kids that were chosen to command the younger ones. These kids were all between 9 and eighteen. The eighteen year olds all had the same expression. And that's when I realized I had the same one everytime I looked in the mirror.

Jason just kissed my forehead again and helped me finish packing all my stuff. "Argus is waiting to take our bags to the apartment. Help me pack? Thals is in there so we can't do anything fun without hearing 'eternal maiden here' again." He smirked as he grabbed my bag and walked out.

I blushed a deep red when I saw a look from Drew. "Oh go take a pregnancy test." I stormed out of my cabin bent on ripping my boyfriend limb from limb before realizing he did it to take my mind off what happened. I sighed as I looked closely at the kids I passed. _These aren't kids, not even little Harley. He looks too strong and mature. He looks too much like Leo does when Calypso's not around to cheer him up, it's not fair...it's not okay._ I pushed open the door to the Zeus cabin and came face to face with the biggest mess I'd ever seen. "What the Hades? What'd you two do, let a tornado lose? Don't answer that I don't want to know." Eventually the three of us got Jason all packed before heading to the Artemis cabin to help Thalia. But even when we were joking around I could see the looks in their eyes. Thalia looked thirty and Jason...He looked like the leader of an army that had just watched as he sent his soldiers to die. And I hated it. But it was my reality...and no matter how much you fight or hate it, reality is the one thing you can't change. Not even when you can do magic.

Argus was driving all of our luggage to our apartment while Nico said he could get us to there. Him and his friends shared a look while we all waited nervously to say goodbye to the other campers. Clovis, Miranda and Pollux walked over with Butch right behind them.

Miranda hugged Katie tightly before turning to the Stoll brothers. "You make sure nothing happens to her or I'm coming back to kick your asses." Then she proceeded to hug them both and all of us in turn. "You guys keep them in check." She pointed to Annabeth Katie and me before turning away so we couldn't see her tears.

Pollux just fist bumped everyone, told them to take care before giving Percy a pointed look that read _I can never repay you so don't die on me while I try_. He then turned to the Stolls and they shared some kind of understanding. It was hard for me to read since he was so closed off. All I got was _stay together_.

Clovis grinned at everyone sleepily and yawned. "Stay awake in class or other wise I'll curse you with over sleeping. I can't threaten, I'm to pretty." He grinned before leaning on Pollux for support while he swayed.

Butch just gave us all one nod before turning to Leo. "Rainbows are mocho, and so is a dragon named happy." He grinned before patting him on the shoulder and turning. "Have fun and try not to get killed."

When Nico's ride finally showed up we all sort of gave him crazy looks. Then we had to hear the story. Finally we all piled into the car which surprisingly fit all of us. Nyssa claimed the front seat before any of us could argue, which meant piling into the back. Jason, Drew, Connor and I sat in the way back then Leo, Calypso, Frank and Hazel sat in the group of seats in front of us. After them was Nico, Will, Lou Ellen and Cecil, then Reyna, Rachel, Thalia and Katie. Then Travis, Percy, Annabeth and Chris with Clarisse sitting on his lap since there was no more room.

"Hey Leo, when are our rides going to be ready?" Connor leaned forward to talk to him, accidentally nudging me with his elbow.

Leo tried to turn around without hitting anyone. "Um...I think he said the end of the week. Like a few days before school starts. We got him started with all the blueprints, designs and stuff. We didn't have a lot of time so that was all we got."

Calypso shook her head. "Remember, we started on a few of the engines? I think we have three of them started. I can't remember exactly." She turned back and got Rachel's attention. "Can you tell them about the apartment?"

Rachel turned back and nodded. "Drew can you please turn off the radio? I think you'll want to hear this!" When the music was finally off she smiled. "Okay. So basically we have our own private elevator that only goes to our two floors and the lobby. To get into the elevator you either have to be one of us, be with us or have us buzz you in from the apartment. Anyway, there are plenty of bedrooms that basically take up the entire top floor. But we also have a roof access. There are two big bathrooms which have three showers in each, one for the boys and one for the girls. Then down stairs there's a living room with a huge TV and a lot of movies. Same bathrooms, both have three showers. Then there's a dining room, a kitchen, a huge library, a study room...A game room that's completely sound proofed because I know you guys love to have the sound blasting out your eardrums. There is also a computer room with one for each of us and in the back there's a studio for our art. Sound good?"

My ears basically exploded from the praise coming from everyone. It was times like theses that I felt like a normal teenager. Even if we could never be like mortals, at least we had some parts of ourselves still there.


	5. Decisions, Decisions

_Hazel's POV_

When we finally made it to the apartment we were all bursting at the sems to be allowed to go. Rachel walked over to the front desk with her hands on her hips. "Excuse me, can we have our apartment elevator keys please? It's under Dare."

When the man behind the desk raised his eyes to look at her he huffed. "I understand it's summer miss, but trying to get into a private suite is against the law. Run back to your foster home."

Calypso was doing all she could to calm Leo down who was clearly ready to rip the guys throat out. I could hear him muttering some choice words that made all the heat rise to my cheeks. "Rachel..."

Rachel didn't look impressed. "Excuse me? I have never played this card ever. But you leave me with no choice." She wiped out her phone and waved it front of him. "My name is Rachel Elizabeth Dare. You don't let us up there now, then I'll call my father. He won't be too happy when he hears that you didn't let his only daughter into his building. Or do you want me to go easy on you and call Monica your manger instead? I'm sure she remembers me since I held a charity event here last year."

The guy clearly wasn't buying it. "I'll call her myself." He pressed a quick button and in a few seconds a middle aged woman walked behind the desk through a door. He looked smug considering he might be fired soon.

"What is it now?" When she looked up her eyes lit up. "Rachel! It's an honor to have you stay with us. Did you have him call to say hi? It's so nice to see you. I'll grab the keys to the apartment your dad set up for you." She pulled up her curly pink hair into a ponytail before flashing us all a smile. She grabbed the keys out of the astonished man's hands. "I'll show you where the elevator. A man already dropped off all your bags and I brought them up myself. They'll be waiting in your living room since I didn't know which rooms you wanted." She walked all of us over to the elevator before glancing at how many of us there were. "I'm sorry but you'll have to make two trips. It's a big elevator but I don't think you'll all fit."

"Thank you Monica. Before I forget, I wanted to introduce you to someone special." Rachel pointed to some of us and waved us into the elevator before grabbing Reyna's hand. "This is my girlfriend, Reyna."

My last view of them was Monica hugging Reyna as Rachel laughed. I turned to find that I was in the elevator with Frank, Leo, Clayso, Connor, Drew, Will, Nico, Jason, Piper and Nyssa. It was just big enough that we all fit without being squashed completely. Nico was shaking a little bit but he seemed okay. I grabbed his hand which made him better. I didn't like tight spaces either but at least it was a big elevator. I saw the numbers rise until it landed on 15. The doors finally opened and we all spilled out. When I got a good look at the living room I gasped. It looked a bit like a smaller version of the lobby, wood floors with a couple couches all angled so where ever you sat you could still see the TV on the right wall. Underneath that was a huge book shelf with a ton of movies and board games. To our left was two rooms that were labeled with Female and Male that were probably the bath rooms. In front of us was a doorway to the dining room with no door and next to it was a hallway. A warm fire place lay empty of any flame a few feet from the doorway to the dining room.

Piper cleared her throat before pointing to the bags on the floor and couches. "We can explore later, after we get our bags out of here. Didn't Rachel mention that there was a staircase up to the next floor in the back?"

I quickly found the three bags I had brought and started carrying them towards the back. While I walked I glanced around. What I found was a beautiful library, a huge kitchen and dining room as well as a game room that would make Leo pass out. I found the stairs easily and was glad they were wide enough for three people. I heaved up my two suitcases and made sure my backpack wasn't going to fall off my shoulders before walking up. When I finally made It I found an apartment like area. But instead of numbers, there were names. Mine was off to the right. I walked down the hall and found that each couple had a bedroom. Nyssa and Drew would be sharing and so would Thalia and the other hunter. She was due to arrive tomorrow since she she had to finish a mission for Artemis. I finally came to the one one with my name as well as Frank's. I blushed slightly as I shoved open the door before dragging my bag in with my back turned. When I finally shut the door I turned." Oh, wow!"

The walls were completely white with paint cans next to them which meant she got to design them herself. The back wall had a large picture window with a balcony and grey curtains. The floor was hardwood with a large black rug that had purple and red designs running across it. Two closets were marked with their names on the left side of the room, as well as a desk between them. Four chairs were scattered around the room. Two were purple with golden designs and a cerberus stuffed animal sitting in it. The other two were a dark red with black designs and had a panda stuffed animal in each one. Against the right wall, dead center was a note. There was no bed which was confusing.

Before I could walk over to read it, I heard a knock on the door. I opened to find Frank. I smiled at him before helping him with his bags. I put them down on the floor only for them to disappear. Frank frowned before looking around. "Woah! This room is awesome. Do you think our clothes got moved to our closets?" He walked over to his and grinned. "Yup. These are big." It was a large closet with everything neatly organized, plus enough room for Frank to walk in and pick out an outfit. Not everything was full though, since they didn't bring alot. "Guess your stuff is in your closet. What's that note say?"

I finally walked over and read the note out loud. "I just wanted to let you two know that it is your decision whether or not you want one bed or two. When you make your decision, walk over to the other side of the room and tell me. By the way, the bedrooms are sound proofed so no one can hear you from the outside. You can of course hear if someone wants to come in. I get that you two might have nightmares so that's why the sound proof is there. You can comfort each other without waking anyone else up. Hades would have a fit if I did it for any other reason. Love Aphrodite." I blushed when she mentioned the sound proofing. I turned to Frank to find he was red too. "Um...So what do you want? One or two?"

Frank rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well it's really your choice Hazel. I'm okay with either. I don't want to push any boundaries since I know you're a bit old fashioned since you were born in the 1940's. I'd be okay with whatever you choose."

I smiled at him happily before biting my lip. A habit Frank pointed out that I do when I'm thinking. _He's so sweet, but did he really have to make me choose? I mean I appreciate that he understands but I hate making decisions...Oh, I know!_ "I think we should ask for one. Just to get used to it we can start out on the opposite sides of the bed, like we're in our own. Then go from there okay?"

Frank nodded before kissing my forehead. "I like that idea. Come on, let's get out of the way." He held my hand as we walked to the other side of the room before covering our eyes due to the burst of light. When it was finally gone, there stood our bed. It sounded so weird in my head.

It was huge, taking up most of the right half. It had dark stained wood head and foot boards. The sheets were red with tiny dark purple designs running up the middle. The were two pillows in the back with one in the front. The back two were all black, but the front one had the same design as the bed sheets. The whole room shouldn't have gone together, but it really did. I loved it. "This is so cool." I jumped backwards onto it and almost fell asleep right there. "Oh wow, it's so comfy. And there are glow in the dark stars on the ceiling! I love our room!"

Frank laughed as he walked over to sit next to me. "I think we should go down stairs to check on the others." He was right of course but I still hated to leave.

 _Calypso's POV_

"These suitcases you made are...cool?" I looked at Leo to make sure I was saying that right. When he nodded to tell me I was using the modern 'slang' right I smiled with pride. "Cool. I fit all three suitcases worth of my stuff into this. Where did you get the idea?"

Leo smiled at me as we made a left turn towards where our rooms were supposed to be according to the sign. "Hey, look at this. Percy and Annabeth are sharing a room, no surprise. I wonder..."

"Leo. Jason and Piper are sharing a room too." I pointed to one down the hall and blushed. "I think all the couples are sharing and then the others just got paired up. Connor is probably alone." I walked a little bit faster looking for my name. At the end of the hall was a door with our names on it, which meant we would be sharing. I mean, we had slept curled up next to Festus during our trip around the world but this was going to be a permanent place for us to sleep till we graduated. And since we were juniors, it would be for two years. "Oh my gods." I pushed open the door before pulling my bags in. I only glanced around so I didn't really see anything. I watched as my bag dissolved into micro dots that headed towards a door with my name on it which was probably my closet. Since I was a magic user myself I usually saw all spells in slow motion.

I held open the door for Leo who plopped his bag down at his feet before looking around. "Woah. Calypso, this room rocks." After I closed the door I turned to see what he was looking at. I immediately agreed.

The floor was made of a dark wood like the closet doors which were on the right side of the room. A desk was in between them that looked like it came from Hephaestus's workshop with random snapshots of our travels together that I had no idea were taken. The walls were enchanted so at the moment they showed a few apple trees moving with the wind, the apples not quite ready to be picked since it wasn't that part of the season yet. The back wall had a large picture window with a balcony and brown curtains. Four chairs were scattered around the room, all of them a dark brown color with a Charmander stuffed animal sitting in them. I'd seen them when we stopped in Japan. It was beautiful. "Um...where's the beds?"

Leo pointed to something on the left wall right at eye level. He dragged me over and pulled it off. "It's a note. It says: I just wanted to let you two know that it is your decision whether or not you want one bed or two. When you make your decision, walk over to the other side of the room and tell me. By the way, the bedrooms are sound proofed so no one can hear you from the outside. You can of course hear if someone wants to come in. I get that you two might have nightmares so that's why the sound proof is there. You can comfort each other without waking anyone else up. Oh, and Calypso my husband would like to speak with you. Love Aphrodite." He was blushing slightly. "Um...I think we should have one, not that I want to pressure you into anything! I mean we could sleep like we did when we were traveling but more comfortable. Not that I'm trying to persuade you I'm just trying to backup my reasoning...I should probably shut up right now before you..."

I pressed my lips to his as I tangled my hands in his curls. I pulled away after a few seconds and smiled at him. "I think we should have one bed too. Just don't light the bed on fire in your sleep." I released my grip on his hair and instead chose to hold his hand as we walked to the other side of the room. "You know our decision." I covered both our eyes just before a light flashed that would have blinded us. When I removed my hands, I dashed over to admire it. "Wow, this bed is amazing. And the sheets are so soft!"

The wood used for the head and footboards was the color of soot, with the sheets appearing to be made of fire. The two ends were a dark read and slowly grew lighter into an orange until they met in the middle as a swirl of yellow. The pillows were a mix of black and grey. Some how fitting into the whole theme of the room.

Leo smiled at me before jumping on it so he was spread like an eagle with his face down. "Good night sunshine." He then proceeded to pretend to snore.

I grabbed one of the pillows and whacked him with it. "Get up, we have to go exploring!" When he finally moved I grabbed his hand after putting the pillow back. "We can have a pillow fight after dinner if you want, our room is sound proof..."

That got him up. "You're on sunshine, let's go." He pulled me out of the room and over towards the stairs. "Hey Hazel, Frank. Aren't our rooms totally awesome?"

I noticed both of them blush before Frank nodded. "You guys get stuffed animals on your chairs too?" He seemed to relax after I nodded. "I thought it was just us and that would have been really embarrassing."

Leo grinned. "We got charmanders on ours. What did you two get?" We talked as we headed down to meet the rest of our group in the living room. Or who ever was there.

 _Will's POV_

Ever since I confessed my feeling for Nico, he was slowly coming more open and friendly. But only a little and verrrrryyyyy...ssslllooowwwlllyyy...For example after we grabbed our bags Jason offered to walk with us. Instead of shrugging him off like he usually would, he accepted and offered a small smile towards the couple. When we got to the top of the stairs I walked forward to look at the sign. "Looks like we all have rooms towards the left. This is exactly like we all have our own apartments! I've never lived without parents or adult supervision! This is so cool!"

Piper laughed at my enthusiasm. "Trust me, the thrill wears off once you realize you have to become your own supervision. Telling yourself when lights out is, getting your own stuff...it's not as fun as it seems. Trust me, I've talked to a lot of people that live like that. They ain't that happy."

Before I could tell her about how we kind of have Annabeth to be our mom, Nico pointed to a room with a smirk on his face. "Here's your stop. Looks like you two will be bunking together. No misbehaving, I don't think Will can deliver human babies." He dragged me down the hall as we both laughed.

I turned back to find them both frozen with red faces and had to stop so I could catch my breath. "Oh gods Nico, that was awesome." I gave him a look that I hope portrayed _It's one reason I like you_ and judging from him turning away from me with this tiny smile I think he got it. When I looked up to find a room with both our names on it I smiled brightly. "Looks like whoever separated us into rooms knew I was going to stay with you! This is ours." Our room was tucked away into this tiny corner of the floor which fit Nico very well. When I opened the door, I dropped my bags as my jaw fell too. "This is beautiful."

I only noted that ours bags disappeared when we put them down since I was too busy staring at the room. The back wall had a large picture window with a balcony and dark blue curtains. The floor was a light hard wood and the walls appeared to be slowly changing from day to night. On one side was a meadow scene and the other was the city scape with a McDonalds visible. As the sun set over the meadow the sun came up over the city driving away the stars and mood. On the right wall cute out of the city scape was two doors with my name on the right one and his on the left. I guessed they were our closets since they were the only thing not combined. Between them was a dark wood table with a ton of pictures framed, I recognized my family christmas picture and one of my whole cabin. Others were of us and our friends but one I didn't get was Nico with an older girl smiling with him. I understood that it was Bianca but what I didn't get was...Nico was smiling. Suddenly I realized why there where self harm scars on his wrists and why I cried myself to sleep when I was the last one up. Because what surprised me most wasn't seeing his dead sister in a photo. It was actually seeing one of my friends smiling. Like splitting your face smiling. "I'll be right back." I just had enough time to notice that there was only one bed and a hammock off to the side before I made it to the bath rooms. I shoved open the door to the boys and ran straight for a toilet. Every bitter feeling towards our parents and resentful thought came up in the form of what was coming up from my stomach. It lasted for at least five minutes, but I don't know how long Nico was there rubbing my back trying to comfort me.

I don't know who I surprised more when I looked up at him afterwards with tears streaming down my cheeks and asked him something that made me want to turn right around and spill my guts again. But I needed to ask. "Can I see you're knife?"

 **Author's Note: PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! There is a reason for this...it's just not in this chapter. I'm sorry...**

 _Jason's POV_

After Nico pointed out our room I waited until after they were a little down the hallway to open the door since it took us that look to get rid of the blushes covering our faces. I held openthe door for Piper before closing it behind us. "Well that was interesting...Woah." The room appeared to be perfectly fitted to them. The walls were painted to appear like a forest with thunder clouds in the distance and doves flying around. A small bit of lightning flashed on the wall then disappeared again. A small electric piano stood between the closet doors with Piper's name embroidered into the side of the cushion on the stool. Around the room lay four arm chairs. Two of them were purple with teddy bears in Superman outfits. The other two were a dark pink and had two teddy bears in each holding a heart between them. A bed was already there with a native american design bedspread using blues and browns, along with a dark wood headboard. The pillows matched the spread except the two back ones which were simply brown. I looked at Piper to see if she was okay with this.

Piper was beaming. "Oh this place is amazing. It's...us. You're...you're okay with sharing a bed right? I mean we've fallen asleep on the couch in your cabin before but this is an actual bed..."

I kissed her forehead before wrapping my arms around her waist to pull her towards me. "As long as you're okay and happy, I am too." I hugged her tightly and wiggled my face in her hair so I could smell the lavender shampoo she uses. When I pulled away just enough to look her in the eye, I smiled at her. "You know Leo isn't kidding when he calls you Beauty Queen. You are the most beautiful girl that has ever lived or died. You don't need to use charmspeak to have some people bowing at your feet because your beauty is in your walk, it's in the way you talk, it's in every scar you've lived through. Your beauty is in everything you do and it earns respect with anyone you meet."

My amazing Piper looked ready to cry so I was a little worried I had said something wrong. "You don't know how much I needed to hear that." She didn't actually cry, just sort of hugged my tightly while she tried to calm herself down.

I smiled as I stood up with her still in my arms and walked over to the door despite her protests. I knew she was smiling through her voice and the way she held on tightly so I couldn't put her down. It was moments like this that I loved being a demigod, because I never would have met her without it. But it was moments like what came next that made me want to destroy the gods so no one would ever have to deal with this pain again. Because I never wanted for anyone else to need to rush for bandages that weren't there.

 _Drew's POV_

I had only packed one or two bags because I was going to be smart about it. I was free in the shopping capital of the world! Well, the east coast at least. Why fill my closet with old stuff that I can just send to charity like I do with all my old stuff, when I get get everything new for the start of the school year? I do have a brain unlike some of some girls like me. Besides, Connor keeps telling me to show the side he sees more often. The goofy, smart and completely rebel side that I've hidden away for so long. _Damn him and his adorable smile that gets my guard down...At least he's not like Demetri...Snap out of it!_ I looked up to find that I was already at the door to the room I would share with Nyssa. _Strange, my name is written on a sticky note. Oh well..._ I pushed open the doors and raised my eyebrows. It was absolutely nothing like I expected because for one, it looked like it was meant for only Nyssa. Besides my hammock bed in the corner. How did I know?

The walls looked like they were designed to show what Bunker Nine looked like, with some of her old blueprints up. The floorboards were somehow crisscrossed making a cool design. There were two doors on the side opposite the bed, one with my name sticky noted on. Again. _It's like they don't think I'm going to...No way!_ "Mother..." The chairs were a dark brown with fox stuffed animals in each one, matching the bed. Sort of. It was beautifully designed, with brown sheets and black pillows with gears and locks on them. My hammock was hung up in the corner. It was a faded pink with a blanket and a few pillows in it, including one or two heart shaped ones. I walked over after putting my bags down and was surprised by how comfortable I was. "I like this..."

Nyssa chose that moment to walk in. "Oh wow! This room is awesome!" She immediately dropped her bags, which to my surprise disappeared. She ran over to the bed and flopped down. "So much more comfortable than in my cabin. You okay with just a hammock?" She rolled over to race me with this huge smile on her face.

I nodded before giving her a slightly real smile. "I'll be fine, it's really comfy. What's with my name only being written in sticky notes? You going to kick me out soon?"

"I might. But seriously? I have no idea." Nyssa looked towards the closed door and raised her eyebrows. "Where's my bags?" She walked over to the door with her name on it and pulled the door open. "Oh cool! They transported all our stuff into our closets, even folded and stuff!" She turned to smile at me but then it fell.

We both raced for the door and thundered down the hall towards the bathroom. _Please don't be a monster...Please don't let that be a scream of help, let it just be that the Stolls pulled a prank._


	6. Decisions, Decisions(Continued)

**DISCLAIMER: DO NOT OWN PJO OR HOO CHARACTERS! IF YOU RECOGNIZE ONE THEN I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTER, IT BELONG TO RICK RIORDAN. I only own the plot and stuff like that like a few OCs that aren't in this chapter. Oh, and I don't own Teen Titans either. It's sad really, because if I did it would still be on and there would be more BBxRae...**

 _Percy's POV_

"Okay Rachel, the elevator is back. We should be heading up. Nice to meet you Monica!" I grabbed her shoulder and herded her into the elevator with Reyna right on my tail. "That was fun. Next time, don't get Reyna pissed at you because you used your girlfriend powers to let someone into her personal space. Up, right?" I gave them both my signature smirk before turning away from both death glares before hitting the only other button in it besides the lobby. I felt someone's arm slip around my waist and looked down to find Annabeth smiling at me. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders before kissing her hair. "At least you don't have to listen to more baby stories about me."

Annabeth rolled her eyes at me. "I wanted to! She always has pictures too." She turned to Thalia with an evil glint in her eyes. "Remember Thalia? Didn't she give you one or two while we were leaving the car?"

I looked between them worriedly and sighed in relief when the door opened. "Time to get our stuff together! Let's go Annabeth." I quickly grabbed my bags before handing her her own. I pulled her towards the stairs and up before Thalia could even mention an embarrassing story. "Okay, now that that's...Annabeth I'll be right back. I need to go to the bathroom."

Annabeth shook her head at me before picking up the extra backpack and suit case. We only had one each so it wasn't to much. "Just don't try to drown anyone while you're in there." She gave me a cheeky smile before heading off to our room. Rachel had mentioned that we were going to get to share no matter what.

I walked around trying to find the bathroom in this huge place when I finally found the two bathrooms for this floor. I was about to push open the door when I heard Will's voice.

"Can I see your knife?" There was footsteps but they weren't coming for the door. "Nico, please. You know it could help and I'll only do it this once...I've never felt like this except for when I lost some of my half siblings but now...It's like they all died at once..."

"No way in hell Will! I'm not letting you do that to yourself...You know it's addicting!" Nico's voice floated through the door. "Will stop...Will! I said stop."

"Let me go Nico.." There was a crash and then the scrambling of feet. "That's worse than I intended..."

Nico pulled open the door with his eyes wild with fear, screaming for Jason and Piper. "Percy...help..." Behind him lay Will and a shattered toothbrush holder. His upper thigh was cut up pretty badly and the worst part was he was smiling slightly like the pain felt good.

I pushed past Nico while the sound of 38 footsteps ran towards us. I grabbed the hand towel and ripped it in half. I used the first part to try and stop the bleeding. "Nico, here. Get the larger pieces." I tossed the other half towards him while pressing the strip of cloth into Will's wounds. "What the hell were you thinking Will? Do you know how scared Nico is right now?"

Will's face fell. "I justed wanted it gone. I have some amerosa in my bag, one square will minimize the bleeding while you guys get some bandages. We have some, right?" He looked at me and suddenly I saw how much pain he was in. Not just from the wound. He was hurting Nico and it was killing him from the inside out.

I grabbed the bag he had pointed to with all of his bathroom stuff. I pulled out one of the bags of amorosa squares and quickly feed him one. "There." I pulled off the towel until the wounds were only small scratches. Where the bleeding had been was now just scars connected to the scratches. I looked up to find Nico handing me bandages with a Walmart bag in his hand. I wrapped Will up before turning to Nico. "Bed, now. I know you shadow traveled. Jason, make sure he does."

Jason nodded before pulling Nico towards his room. "Come on Nico, He'll be stuck in that room in a little while too."

Will grabbed onto one of the sinks and steadied himself. "I'm going to need some help walking...I'm sorry guys, I was a bit clumsy. I'll be more careful..."

Hazel raised her eyebrows at him with her arms crossed. "And what exactly were you doing in here with my brother?"

"I wasn't feeling so good so I ran in here...I'm fine now though. Percy, do you think you can help me to my room?" When he was okay to walk with me he shooed everyone away. Well, except for Leo who was cleaning up the extra shards.

I basically carried him to the room since he kept wincing when ever he tried to but weight in his left leg. Though he said he was fine, I knew he wasn't. I pushed open the door and found Nico curled up under the covers of the bed. "You want to be on the bed too, or in the hammock?"

"You can put me on top of the covers, I don't need to sleep. I'll wake him up for dinner." Will seemed flustered, a work I learned from Annabeth, when I scooped him up Bridal style and placed him on the bed next to Nico. "What did you hear?"

"All of it. Will I know sometimes this life is hell. For some of us, literally. But there are good parts, like the way Nico acts around you. He's 10x happier than I've ever seen him, and even when you're gone he's still 5x better. I'm not saying you can't show pain or anything, just try and focus on him when you feel like that. What advice would you give yourself?"

Will looked up at me before saying, "You can be really smart sometimes, Percy. You know that right?"

"Ever the tone of surprise.." I grinned as I walked away from a shocked Will. I think I got that book referance right. Anyway, I headed back towards my own room to find Annabeth in front of the room looking very impatient. "What?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes at me."You take forever in the bathroom." She knew what happened of course, but still she had to tease me. "Come on I'll show you our room."

"Okay. Then have to go to the bathroom because I kind of didn't get a chance to." I smiled happily at her and let that wall I built up in front of everyone else move to the side. My shoulders slumped, my smile fell, but by eyes never stopped smiling. Because I was with Annabeth.

She grabbed my hand and I saw the same wall move over in her body. Her shoulders relaxed, her eyes finally showed all her emotions and her mouth relaxed into a neutral position. She gently guided me into the room. "It's perfect."

The walls were a deep blue with silver waves crashing together with grey curtains protecting the balcony from view. There were two closets, one for each of us. In between them was a fish tank with different types of sea creatures. Sea horses, a small turtle...A curtain rod wrapped around it with black curtains on one end. A voice rang in my head, _Hello my lord, my lady. It it so if you wish to have some privacy. It will transport us back to the sea for as long as you wish, but we'll be protected so we can come back. You can ask one of us to switch out to so others may have this chance as well. I'm the turtle by the way._

I waved to the turtle and the other creatures swimming around in the large tank. They seemed very happy. "They call you _my lady_. They also say hello. The curtain transports them to the ocean for a while. It also protects them from getting eaten while they're there." When she nodded I went back to looking around the room.

There were four chairs. They were blue with silver lining or vis versa. The ones that were mostly blue had pegasus stuffed animals and the others had owls. Underneath the chairs were matching rugs. The bed was a king sized with grey and white sheets, the pillows had grey backs with white fronts and boat themed designs. An anchor, a compass, a treasure map. The actual wood was a light brown with owl toppers on the tips of the headboard.

There were pictures hung up all along the walls. One was of them in Paris, Rome, goofing off at Camp-Halfblood. A few were of when they had first met, playing toss the apple with Grover. Another one was of them with Thalia at a burger place after the war. They almost filled the walls. But right in the middle was one of us. The seven, Nico, Will, Thalia, Calypso, Travis, Katie, Grover, Juniper, Clarisse, Chris, Reyna and Rachel. It was split into two pictures. One of all of us smiling, the other with all of us goofing off. Jason was on Piper's back doing a Superman pose, Hazel and Frank were making cross eyes at each other with their tongues out, Leo was dipping Calypso as if they were dancing, Nico was pretending to faint in Will's arms, Travis had a flower crown on while Katie had him in a headlock, Juniper was doing a handstand while Grover had his elbows on her feet and was giving the camera a 'what can you do' look, Clarisse was on Chris's shoulders laughing her head off while he made a goofy face, Rachel had her arms slung around Reyna and Thalia's shoulders while they lifted her off the ground so she was taller. Annabeth and I? We looked like we were scolding them but you could see the smiles on our aces. I remembered it so clearly, Annabeth was mad because she wanted a good picture. I was trying to be serious but I was laughing too.

"Do you remember Chiron taking that picture? Everyone did that right before he took the picture. He almost dropped the camera he was laughing so hard. We finally got a good one though, which is surprising considering who it was of."

Annabeth nodded before hugging me tightly with her face pressed into my chest. "I just hope there isn't any more wars to deal with." She looked up at me as I hugged her back. "I'm glad we get to do stuff like in the picture though because it's like actually being a teenager."

I grinned mischievously before pulling away from her. I made sure the door was shut tightly before running back towards her. I scooped her up in my arms and jumped onto the bed.

Annabeth laughed at me before planting a kiss firmly on my lips. Her fingers found their way to my hair which she used as an anchor to hold me close to her. She was on top of her body pressed against mine.

I wrapped my arms tightly around her waist and kissed back. It felt so good to be able to do this for once. We never really got a chance at camp or on the argo since we were mainly focused on following the rules or staying alive. My lips traveled from her mouth down to her neck and then back up again. I pulled away from kissing her to breathe out, "I love you Annabeth."

"I love you too." She smiled at me before kissing me again. We kissed until we could breathe. She moved so she had her head on one of the pillows but gave me enough room to move next to her. She curled up against me before sighing. "Do you remember when we snuck down to the bay doors on the argo and fell asleep like this?"

I nodded as I chuckled. "I can remember Frank's face when he found us. Did everyone really think we snuck out to do anything but talk?" I felt my cheeks grow a little warmer since a little unknown embarrassing fact was that all we'd ever done was kiss. I hadn't even tried to touch her butt yet. It's just that part isn't something that usually pops up into my head, you know?

"And kiss a little bit." Annabeth teased remembering how I made the situation a little worse by telling Frank that. "I can't believe that we get to sleep like that every night now, it feels so weird thinking about it. A good weird though."

I felt my heart pound a little fast she she looked up at me and suddenly I knew. This was the girl I wanted to marry. In my head I saw a very worn out Annabeth walk in the door. Two streaks of blonde and black jumped at her. One was a little girl with Annabeth's blonde hair and my green eyes. She looked to be about 6 years old. The other was a little boy that had my hair and her grey eyes. They both started squealing as she hugged them. "Mommy!" I smiled. "Yeah, a good weird." I kissed the top of her head before getting up. "Come on, let's go look around down stairs."

Annabeth pouted before capturing one last kiss from my lips. "Okay." She dashed for the door with me racing after her.

 _Clarisse's POV_

I will never tell Prissy I even thought this, but I was so glad he finally got Rachel and her friend to shut up. I was itching to get to the roof to practice, after I ate a quick snack of course. Then it dawned on me. _We might not have any food...gods damn it!_ I left my bags as I went into the kitchen and over to the gigantic fridge. I opened it quickly and pouted when I found nothing. I looked through the cupboards and growled when I found nothing. "Oh come on."

Chris laughed behind me as I whirled around to face him. "We haven't gone shopping yet. I have some bars stashed in my bag, let's go find our rooms." He walked over and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Okay?"

I wrapped my arms around his neck and smiled. "What ever you say, Hercules." I gave him a quick kiss before walking back into the living room to find everyone searching for their bag. "Oh great." I snatched mine up from off the couch before turned to find Chris already had his. I rolled my eyes as we headed for the stairs only to bump into Hazel and Frank. "Hey you guys, I wouldn't go down there. It's crazy."

Hazel pouted before smiling. "Okay, we'll head to the computer room. The rooms are sorted by couple by the way, so you two will be sharing a room. You can chose whether you want one bed or two by the way..." She dragged Frank away before we could say anything else.

Chris was giving me his Hermes kid look. "Sharing a room, uh? Sounds fun." He ran up the stairs with me on his tail. He made a right and stopped at a door with our name on it. "Here goes nothing." He shoved open the door and the sight made both of us stop. "Awesome." He dropped his bags and ran over to sit in one of the chairs. "So comfy."

I raised an eyebrow at his choice of words but simply put my bags down too. "I'll admit, I like this room." The walls were a faded red with brown trees coming up from the floorboards, and a sunset drawn on the ceiling. The chairs were dark brown with red flowers on the sides, and plush toy baby boars sitting in them. The boar that was in Chris's chair was now in his lap. I giggled when I say him playing with it like a little kid. "You're a dork."

Chris chucked the toy at my head but I caught it just in time. I put it back before giving him a kiss on the cheek. He pouted because he didn't get anything more which made me laugh more. "I wonder what's in these. They have our names on them" When he pulled open the door he immediately whirled around. "Woah. All our stuff is in here! Here's a few energy bars." He tossed them to me before turning around. "No bed. I guess that's what they meant." He shrugged.

I rolled my eyes at him before grabbing the bars. I eat them quickly before finding a note on the wall. I read it to Chris before realizing we got to chose. "Um...I don't exactly know what I want to do for beds and stuff cause it would be weird to sleep in here with two beds but one is awkward..." I remembered back to what he said and my stuttering got worse.

Chris kissed me so I would shut up. "Hey. We don't have to do anything you don't want to. You know I know you would send me to Hades for it if I did. Are you okay with sharing?" When I nodded he walked with me away from where the bed would be and we both turned our backs to it. When the flash of light was gone we turned back to fnd an amazing bed.

The wood was black but designed really well. The sheets were black with a dark red flower design going up the middle and a red trim. The pillows were brown with little red wings on them. It was rather large, a king sized. I walked over slowly and touched the fabric. _Oh my gods it's so soft..._ "It's summer though. Do you think it's going to be too warm?"

"I think it's enchanted so we can have it whatever temperature you want in here. Or we could just change the thermostat." He pointed the wall which made me blush. We were still getting used to modern life. He walked over and planted a kiss on my forehead. "You want to go train?"

I nodded but then fake pouted. "But I don't have anyone good to practice with..." I laughed at his expression before trying to escape the fingers that knew all the places I was ticklish. I didn't win for once.

 _Lou Ellen's POV_

When I finally got to find my bags in the thrall of crazy demigods, I noticed that one of them was missing. I grabbed my other ones quickly before turning to look for it, but I was dragged out of the chaos. When I looked up I found Cecil grinning at me with his only bag, along with my missing one. "One of these days I'm going to turn you into a piglet." I smiled at him though to tell him I appreciated his help. We walked up the stairs to find Jason heading towards us.

"Hey guys, Will got a few scrapes. Do you think we have any bandages?" Jason looked a bit mad, like it was Will's fault or something.

I shook my head. "Maybe he has something in his bag. You'd have to go to the store if he doesn't." I felt bad that I couldn't do more but Jason had already disappeared again. "I hope Will is okay." We walked over to where it said our rooms were looking at the names only to find that none were ours. When we reached two of the last rooms I turned a deep red color. "Um..Cecil. I found...Our room." I shoved the door open before he could see my expression. I let out a breath when I saw that there were two beds that were simply very close, just enough room to walk between them. One was clearly mine with dark purple and pinks for the bedding as well as dark blue pillows. The other had dark green covers with one white strip at the bottom and white pillows. Both were made of a light wood to contrast the dark bedding. I began looking around and was surprised by what I found.

There was a simple little alcove seemingly carved out of the wall to allow a quiet reading space to be created with comfy pillows and a blanket. Across the room was a balcony with dark purple curtains with faded green plants growing out of the bottom, and an amazing view of the city. Four chairs were laid out across the room each with a different stuffed animal. One was completely purple with a Toothless stuffed animal with it's own wings and everything. Another was a mix of different shades of green and had two little snakes curled up like they were asleep, ironically they looked like George and Martha but they were clearly stuffed animals. A third chair was a mix of both colors and had a dog with a turtle shell on it's back. The final chair made me blush a little bit. It was black and white with a demon like stuffed animal dressed in red with a green monster hugging it. I immediately knew what it was from. "Come on, how did they know my favorite show? Love the stuffed animals but really?" I pouted before remembering who was with me.

Cecil was chuckling at my expression. "Aw, you love Teen Titans. I knew it! Oh, at it's BB and RaeRae..." He suddenly noticed the change in the atmosphere and his eyes went wide. "No Lou, don't you dare!"

"You know I've never tried turning someone into an inanimate object, maybe a chair or something!" I was about to use my magic when suddenly I was upside down and had my head against his back. "Put me down! I am going to bloody..." Suddenly I couldn't speak as I was scared I was going to bite my tongue off. He was carrying me down the stairs at top speed.

Cecil was laughing as I cursed him in every way possible and until I heard someone yell, "What the bloody hell are you doing to her?!" I almost cried I was so relieved to hear Katie's voice.

 _Rachel's POV_

I was a little nervous when I headed towards the stairs with Reyna. I was the only one who knew, but the rooms were divided by couple. Aphrodite sent me a message about it. I was possibly going to be sharing a bed with Reyna and it sort of freaked me out. I liked her a lot, but sharing a bed was a bit scary. I hesitantly walked with her towards the door with our name on it, though I hadn't told her yet. When I stopped she turned to wave but the saw the names on the door. "Oh." I watched as she smiled at me carefully before whispering, "On three?"

I nodded as I sighed in relief. "One. Two Three." We spoke in sync before pushing open the door together. Suddenly I forgot all my worries because I was so happy I could cry. "Oh, wow!" The walls looked like a van gogh sky painting with the earth on the ceiling. The floor had a giant tan rug on it to cover most of the hardwood beneath. Curled up on it were two dogs that seemed really familiar. They were both Weimaraners but one was a silverish grey and the other was a golden/brownish color. When Reyna walked in they both yawned before looking up.

Reyna gasped and ran over to pet them. "Oh, you two are so cute!" She started playing with them before turning to me and laughing. "It's Argentum and Aurum. Silver and gold."

I smiled at her childishness before realizing what that meant. "Wait, if they're here...who's helping Gwen, Lelia, Nathan and Marcus? I mean Gwen and Marcus do have help from the other two but..." I was cut off by a quick kiss from my lovely girlfriend.

"When did we switch personalities?" Reyna smirked at me while I just stood their flustered.

 _Travis's POV_

I was really excited to see what my room looked like since I had never been in one without a ton of other kids before. I noticed Katie carrying a backpack and a potted plant. I think it was a...snapdragon? "That's a snapdragon, right?"

Katie giggled at me before nodding. "Anthurium. I'm proud to see I've rubbed off on you." She nudged me before stopping at a door and turning the same color as her plant. "Um. This is...um...our room."

When she said 'our' I kind of just froze. I turned to look at the door on my left and then a huge smile light up my face. "Come on, let's check it out!" I pulled her into the room before shutting the door behind me. "Um...Okay, this is cool."

The walls were a darkish green with the floors being a light brown. A light on the ceilings gave off the appearance of stars while the room itself was completely down to earth. Everything but the walls screamed cabin. The giant bed for us to sleep on had finished wood with interactit designs on the blankets and pillows, with the floor, desks and doors to our closets made of the same wood. Instead of four arm chairs there was a table off to the side with four dining table wicker chairs around it and a shelf with a ton of different games and a deck of cards. On top of it was a set of pictures from both camp and from home.

There was Katie as a little girl in pigtail braids and overalls laughing as she hung upside down from a tree branch. There was a little Travis and a toddler Connor sitting on their mom's feet while she tried to carry a birthday cake with Travis's name on it. She might have been a bit on the bigger side but she was clearly having no trouble with the boys. Then there was ones of Katie crying with spaghetti in her hair as Travis was trying to get it out. They were maybe nine or ten. Then there was one of the three of them at Connor's tenth birthday laughing as their mom brought in three giant pieces of cake. Then there was ones of Connor giving Katie piggy back rides while Travis raced them while he had one of their little sisters on his back. This was about the time Percy went to rescue Annabeth. A final one was of Travis pointing to a mistletoe above their heads with a surprised look as Katie kissed him.

Katie blushed as she looked at the photos but simply smiled at him. "I love our room. I'm going to just.." That's when we noticed our bags were gone. "I guess it's magic. Let's head back to the living room, I'm sure everyone is going to head there when they're done." We walked together to the living room and had just sat down with the majority of our friends when Cecil ran in laughing with Lou thrown over his shoulder. "What the bloody hell are you doing to her?!"

 _Thalia's POV_

I couldn't wait for Emily to arrive so I would have someone to understand that not every person needs to be in love. When I pushed open the door to our bedroom I smiled as it looked a lot like our tent on the hunt. Two hammocks hung easily from the far wall with lots of pillows and warm blankets. I put all my stuff away in the two dressers that were put out for us and relaxed in one of the black chairs as I looked over the white wolf stuffed animal. "I love this room." I heard a knock on the door which was surprising since I had just settled in.

Jason stormed into my room before sitting down in my chair. "Why can't that damn Apollo boy just heal himself?! I mean, sure it would take away some of his energy but I mean Nico looked terrified! I love how happy Will makes him and I wish they would start dating already, but what if Will hurts him? I mean, he knows both Percy and I would rip him limb from limb and then Reyna would feed the remains to her dogs...Hazel might curse his soul into the fields of punishment for a little while, but still...That wouldn't help. I need some sibling advice here and if I went to Percy Annabeth would just go on and on about our bromance, whatever that means. And nothing would get dome? I mean can you believe someone could go on and on like that and not realize? It's..."

I cut him off by hitting him with a pillow. "Oh please shut up or I might electrocute you." I dodged his attacks and suddenly it was a full out war. I used two of the chairs to cover me while I grabbed everything I could possibly use for amo. I dodged pillows and stuffed animals as I in turn chucked them at him. I never missed, but sometimes he dodged. I got hit a few times and had to wait ten seconds before my next throw.

The door popped open just as we both threw one last pillow and Piper walked right into the middle of it. She just sort of blinked before she took in the scene. All the chairs overturned, stuff everywhere and Jason holding a silver pillow. "What is going on here?"

Jason dropped it before pointing to me. "She started it! She was also the one to hit you with the pillow!"

I glared at him before standing up and putting my hands on my hips. "Did not! You hit her too! Sorry about that by..." I felt something slam into the back of my head so I whirled around to find Jason hiding behind her. "Oh, that's it!" I started chasing him around the room as we threw everything at eachother and laughed like idiots. I finally noticed Piper filming us and crashed into Jason as we both slipped on one of the blankets. "Hey! No filming! You give that back or you're cleaning this up!"

Piper shook her head as suddenly she was the one being chased. I only realized after she had left the room that she had put down her phone to film the rest of it too. She was laughing evilly as she headed for the living room.

I grabbed a few pillows before declaring with Jason, "AFTER HER!"


	7. A Night Of Freedom, A Night of Pain

**Author's Note: Hey guys! Thank you so much for your follows it means so much to me that you guys like my work. And thank you so much for the review, ARandomFangiler! I just wanted to let you know that I've started school...I will try to update as much as possible but it might take longer during weekdays. Saturdays and Sundays are the most likely times for me to be posting.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any PJO characters only the plot line and OCs mentioned.**

 _Connor's POV_

Now I knew I was going to be the odd one out. 23 of us and everyone was paired but me since I wasn't exactly worth anyone's attention. Well, anyone but Travis and Katie. I smiled as I walked to my lonely room after hearing that Will was okay. He was a sort of friend, like everyone else here. The only reason I was allowed to come was because I'm Travis's little brother. And because Katie can be way over protective...not that she didn't have a reason this time. I pushed open my door to see what I expected. A single bed just for me and what to me looked like exactly what I had back home. I glared at everything before dropping my bags and walking to the living room. Hazel and Frank were sitting on the couch talking quietly while Leo was taking up an armchair while Calypso was passed out in his lap. Nyssa and Drew were arguing with Reyna about something while Rachel braided Annabeth's hair. Percy was talking with Travis as Katie yelled at Cecil for tormenting Lou who was curled up next to Hazel. I didn't even have time to say hi to anyone when Piper came thundering past me laughing as she hid behind Percy.

Thalia and Jason bolted into the room screaming and waving pillows everywhere. "Kill the phone!" They were smiling though as they tried to get to Piper but Percy blocked their way. Jason pouted. "I thought you loved me Percy..."

"Bro, I do. But right now you two are acting like three year olds. I want to know why." He crossed his arms while I noticed Piper sneaking away while she hooked up her phone to the TV.

"It's all Jason's fault, he started it. And then Piper took a video which wasn't nice! We want it back." Suddenly something seemed to click. "Okay, I'm back. No more being little babies. Never again. Jason snap out of it."

Jason was about to come up with a retort but Piper cleared her throat. "I think everyone is going to love what I brought to show and tell..." She wiggled the phone in her hands before pressing the play button.

Thalia's face showed up on the screen. "Did not! You hit her too! Sorry about that by..." We watched as a pillow slammed into the back of her head and the whirling around to see Jason hiding behind her. "Oh, that's it!" She started chasing him around the room chucking pillows and blankets at him that really didn't do anything. She suddenly stopped after a minute or so and crashed into Jason as they both slipped on one of the blankets. "Hey! No filming! You give that back or you're cleaning this up!"

The camera was put down as suddenly Piper was the one being chased and a two vs one war started with Piper by herself. When she made it back to the phone you could hear her laughing with a cry of "AFTER HER!" in the background.

By the end of it all of us were laughing hysterically while Jason and Thalia turned beat red. Percy walked over to both of them and gave them each quick hugs. "You two are dorks." He kissed Thalia's forehead and gave Jason one too after he complained.

I rolled my eyes at them before looking at the time. "Wow guys, it's almost four o'clock. Dinner should be soon, right?" I raised an eyebrow at them while they all sort of stared at me.

"Sorry but there isn't any food in this place. We need to go shopping. Anyone got any mortal money?" Clarisse and Chris walked into view before raising an eyebrow at the TV that was frozen on Thalia and Jason appearing to be running into battle with pillows. "What did we miss?"

Thalia quickly shook her head and turned to Annabeth. "Why don't we all grab our mortal money and see how much we got? Then Katie, you, Travis, Rachel, Chris and Jason can go buy food. Necessities first, then maybe some junk food."

Travis turned slightly red as he raised his hand. "Um guys...I have a debit card and well...Piper might not get as much on her next birthday. All my mom's savings, so I can pay for food and stuff until we get jobs."

I glared at him as I realized that even though I was the only one fully alive at that point he still got everything. I walked out of the room and headed straight for the last place anyone would expect me to go. The library and then to the study room. I loved my brother and I would die without him. But being the youngest sucked.

Someone moved to sit down next to me and just as I was about to tell them to leave, I saw it was Drew. "Connor, are you okay? I mean not that it really matters but you're bumming me out. Not good for my skin."

I didn't even fake laugh at her. "Why would you care when in a few days you'll have boys and girls dropping at your feet again, just so you can walk over them." I know my comment was mean, and she didn't really deserve it since she wasn't half as bad as she was before but she still got us into this mess. "That why you spiked the drinks?"

"What the hell was I supposed to do? You got me to like pranking but ever since I swore at Katie you haven't talked to me. I have no idea how to do anything without it turning out like this!" Her face didn't show it but I could suddenly hear the tears in her voice. "Do you even know what she said, Connor?"

I pulled my eyes away from the hardwood table to find her watching me. Her eyes were pleading for me to forgive her but her body language was reserved. "What could she have possibly have said to get you to call her 'a rotten plus sized tomato whore'?"

Drew looked away from me before whispering, "I used to like Travis, you know. So I had just apologized for trying to charmspeak him when Katie walked in on me hugging him. I pulled away and smiled at her saying I was just letting him know that I didn't have feelings for him anymore, but of course I had to make a joke saying that now they could go back to making out in peace. She got mad at me and grabbed my arm to pull me out of the cabin muttering, 'Not everyone is a sex toy like you'."

I stared at her before standing up so I was able to back away from her. "Katie wouldn't say that. Even if she did she would have apologized for it, or maybe you didn't hear over your screaming."

Drew stood up as her glare showed up. "She apologized after she found me bawling my eyes out in the woods! We made nice, Connor! My words weren't as cruel but they still weren't meant. I thought I could maybe cheer you up, but I guess I only make things worse."

I felt my own glare intensify as the words spilled from my mouth. "You only make it worst when you don't try to make it better. I'm not all jokes and pranks you know, they don't help cheer me up. I'm not anything like Travis, but you are a lot like Katie."

Drew's voice turned quiet as she backed out of the room. "At least she got both Stolls when I only want one." She turned away and disappeared as I just watched.

I tried to control it but I slammed my fist into the wall. _ALWAYS MAKES IT ABOUT HER! I have a reason to be mad, SHE DOESN'T. She makes the SAME mistakes I do, but when I do one of script and yell at HER for doing something worse she somehow makes ME feel like I just laughed as I pushed her into TARTARUS. I HATE HER!_

No you don't. You like her, a lot. She's beautiful, smart and deserves the best guy in the world with what she's gone through. Only he's gone so she's settling for you.

 _Shut up, I don't need to hear that. I guess she was right about one thing...Romantic drama takes away the pain of memories. But I'm right about another, you can't erase watching your siblings and mother die from your mind. You can't erase how THE ONLY WAY to get noticed is your older brother has to be put into a COMA by a hellish centaur that DEFINITELY didn't show up with the party ponies._

When I finally showed up for dinner after Lou found me as I was wrapping up my bloody knuckles, everyone was doing something. Whether it was setting spots for everyone, cooking dinner, putting stuff on the counter so we could get some or comforting Drew who was refusing to leave the living room. I simply pulled out a jug of milk, a bottle of iced tea and a Dr. Pepper from the fridge to join the mass of stuff filling the extra counter space. I could feel Piper's glare trying to gouge out my spleen but I ignored her as I grabbed a plate to fill. When I had everything I needed I sacrificed some of my food to my dad in the fireplace before heading to my room. Before I could make it to the stairs.

"Nuh uh uh. You are having dinner with us Connor. I don't care if you had a fight with Drew or not, you are still eating with us. You may not..." Katie was cut off by me surprising her with a glare.

"You aren't my mom, Katie. If you don't remember she died. I had to go to her funeral _**alone**_ while you stayed with Travis. Yes, I get he was in a coma. But for an hour, I thought maybe you would come. When it ended and you still weren't there..." I turned away from her. I only glanced back to say, "Oh and Drew's about as much as a sex toy as you are." I stormed up to my room locking the door behind me while I let out the tears I had been holding back for two hours. I can't remember if I ate or if I threw it in the hallway for the dogs to eat.

 _Chris's POV_

Just as everyone started getting something to eat Katie walked in with silent tears streaming down her cheeks. When Travis walked over, Katie shook him off. "I deserve it. I made Connor go to your mom's funeral alone so I could stay with you, I called Drew a sex toy which he yelled at me for as well..."

Drew hiccuped before muttering something to Piper. "Katie you know it's not your fault, let's just relax and eat while most of us still haven't cried today. Will and Nico even joined us." She gestured to the two boys sitting at two spots while Percy got them food.

I let out a breath when everyone was finally seated and we all started eating dinner. It felt like at camp with laughing, food fights...But I got to hold Clarisse's hand the entire time which was amazing and a first for us. I spoke up while Calypso passed out desert and said, "Guys. When does school start? I mean do we have binders and stuff or..."

Frank looked up from his giant piece of apple pie and nodded. "I think we have about...four days left? And Chiron set us up with school supplies, they'll arrive with the cars tomorrow."

"Paul got all of our schedules so we'll have those too. For those of you who don't know the school you'll have a map. Um, I think you guys gave Chiron a list of electives you might want, right?" Percy looked between us all as we nodded. "Okay then. We're good." He pulled out his phone and smirked at a text he had gotten. "That's convenient. I have what grades we're in! Obviously we couldn't do actual grades or some of us might be alone or not able to go." He scrolled through them before Annabeth grabbed it from his hands. "Give me that."

Annabeth cleared her throat. "Seniors are..." She motioned to Nico who did a drum roll with his fingers. "Reyna, Rachel, Clarisse, Chris. Travis, Katie, Nyssa and Thalia!" She scrolled down a bit before directing for another drum roll from Lou. "Juniors! Jason, Piper, Leo, Calypso, Connor, Drew, Will and Frank!" She turned to me and pouted when I shook my head so she did it herself. "The final listing, the sophomores! Cecil, Lou Ellen, Nico and Hazel...yay! That's everyone. Oh, and Emily is a Junior." She looked over at Thalia before returning to the deserts in front of us.

As soon as we all took a bit we were all making satisfied sounds. I can't tell you how amazing it was because I can't describe it. I can tell you that I knew where Calypso was going to be working, a sweets shop. I turned to Clarisse only to find she had her eyes closed and her head rolled back. "Damn girl, Clarisse do you need a room?"

She ignored me long enough to savor the bite before she swallowed and decided i was worth her attention now. "I might, but for now I'm good. This is officially the best thing I've ever tasted and Calypso I love you more the Chris at the moment. Well, you're cooking at least."

We both rolled our eyes at her but Calypso took the comment with grace. After stuffing our bellies we all decided it was best to get ready for bed. I was smart enough to brush my teeth in the down stairs before anyone else thought of it before walking up stairs to change in my room. What I found was Clarisse walking out of her closet in a red tank top and pink fuzzy shorts. I smirked at her as I walked by muttering, "So that's what you got for your birthday from your mom." I chuckled as she growled at me and stepped into my closet. I pulled out some sweats to sleep in and decided I was going to go shirtless. I walked out after changing to find Clarisse turning the thermostat to the right temp.

"Finally." She turned around quickly making her hair fly into her face, but I could still see the blush creeping over her cheeks when she saw what I was going to wear to bed. "Um, okay. That's mean." She walked over to the bed and started kicking off the extra pillows.

I laughed as I walked over to do the same to the right side of the bed. "No it isn't! I could have come out in boxers but I didn't think that would be okay. Plus, I didn't want to." I climbed under the covers and lied back into the bed. "Okay, I officially love this."

Clarisse moved so she was sitting next to me before throwing a pillow at the light with to turn it off. Thankfully, she didn't miss. She moved so she was curled up against me with her head on my chest. "I guess I could get used to this." She smiled up at me in a way I only saw when we were alone. "I love you Chris."

"I love you too." I kissed her forehead as I wrapped my arms around her and went to sleep. For the first time in a long, long, long time...I didn't have nightmares.

Instead of waking up drenched in sweat and screaming for my little sister, I found Clarisse's lips pressed against my cheek. I smiled at her as I moved so we were facing eachother. "Good morning beautiful. How did you sleep?"

Clarisse rolled her eyes but smiled at me anyway. "I slept amazingly, which was weird. I woke up a few times but then I saw you and calmed down a bit. It wasn't like nightmares or anything, just making sure this wasn't a dream."

I pressed my lips to hers and tasted the sugar from last nights pie still there as well as her mint toothpaste. I pulled away a second later then I had intended to find my brother standing in the doorway with an evil grin. "Hey Connor. You okay?"

He rolled his eyes at me before giving a thumbs up. "Same bed, nice. I totally love that you're shirtless to. I'll just be on my way. I'll shut the door too so you guys can get back to it..."

I chucked a pillow at him which only hit the door. I fell back only to find that I had no pillow and groaned. "I guess this means we need to wake up?" When I saw her expression I pulled the covers over my head and buried my face into her side.

"Come on Chris, don't you want breakfast?" She pulled the blanket off me and smirked as she climbed out of bed. "I think we have left over chocolate chips..."

And suddenly I was starving...

 **Sorry this was so short. I wanted to let you guys read this and I wasn't sure how to continue with the chapter. Again, you're reviews are appreciated and so are the favors/follows. I love you guys!**


	8. Helloooo, Beautiful

**Disclaimer: I don't own the names of the cars, I don't own any of the characters (except Emily). The characters are Rick Riordan's, Sesame streets and whatnot. The video games aren't mine either, so there. Now, I would like to thank Margo for catching my spelling mistakes which there are probably a lot of due to me having no one to look over my work. But praetor to predator? I laughed when I saw it too, I checked after I saw your review. Fixed it! Any way, we have a story to write...(hoping to have at least 40 or so chapters, depends on how much work I want to put into this later on) Oh, are the chapters long enough? I could write more, but that might mean it would take longer to post. Please review, they are much appreciated!**

 _Leo's POV_

When breakfast was finished I smirked at everyone as I cleared my throat. "Alright everyone, so here's the deal. Our vehicles are done. So since not all of us have car licenses or any at all, there are only about...nine of them. Not all of these are cars by the way...Now. I'm going to hand you your keys and you're going to have to stay here until everyone is ready because they aren't in the open parking lot. Kay?" When everyone nodded, I pulled out one of the sets of keys from my toolbelt. "Receiving a car with enough room for five people..." I smiled when Calypso did a drum roll for me. "Jason and Piper. It's for you to share, as well as give rides when needed."

Jason grabbed the keys after thanking me and giving me a pointed look that showed how he felt about being a chauffeur. Not my fault Piper had her license.

I shoved my hand into my tool belt as I looked around for another set of keys. When they appeared in my hand I looked at the sticky before shoving it off with my thumb and pulling them out. "Next we have a vehicle with only two wheels but upgraded systeming and armor straps going too..." I waited as Calypso drummed. "Me and Calypso. Yay! Here yah go sunshine." I gave her a quick kiss while I put the keys in her hands. "And then we have..." This went on until everyone had their kets. Percy had a car to share with Annabeth, Rachel had her own car that her dad bought to share with Reyna, Nyssa and Travis got cars as well. Clarisse, Nico and Frank all got motorcycles much to their pleasure. "Alright follow me." I walked out of the kitchen leaving the hum of the dishwasher behind me and headed over to the elevator. I grabbed a key that was sort of like the ones you get at hotels and slide it into the crack between the elevators. When the doors opened, there was plenty of room for everyone since as they walked in it got bigger. "Present from dad."

"This only goes to the garage, right?" When I nodded Nico frowned. "I thought so. Did the gods create the garage we're going to as well?" Another nod from me. "Okay." And then it was silent.

When the doors opened, I heard twenty two people gasp all at the same time as it echoed through the garage. I swear that if we sold what was right in front of us then we'd be richer than Piper and Rachel's dads put together. And Rachel's dad owned half the world. You could tell who's car was who's as well.

For example. A gray Ferrari f430 with sea green designs on the side was parked in the dead center of the line looking as if it was deciding whether to purr or roar to life, was clearly Percy and Annabeth's. When she hit the unlock button the lights flashed confirming.

To its right was a black lamborghini aventador with light blue outlining parts of the car as well as lights on the wheels glowing faintly. Jason looked ready to pass out when he found out the car was his and Piper looked actually excited to be able to drive this one which was a huge improvement from fighting against all of this.

To the left of Percy's car was a dark, almost black, purple maserati convertible with the hood already rolled down. The seats were made of a lighter leather that went surprising well with the car. "No way..." Rachel pressed the button while the lights flashed. She hugged Leo tightly before planting a huge kiss on Reyna's lips. "I love it!" She giggled at her girlfriends face which was completely red.

Next to that was the hottest car he'd ever seen. A red porsche turbo 991 stared back at them all with a shiny new coat and a clear smirk. Without even having to press the button, Katie ran over. "Oh, this is awesome. Hellooo, beautiful..." Travis murmured as he walked behind her. It was hard to tell if he was talking to Katie or the car.

A low whistle caught my attention as Nyssa looked over her own car next to Piper's. Or should I say, truck? To be exact, a black GMC pickup truck 2015. She looked like I just told her there was a chocolate eating contest with her name on it. Did I mention she loved chocolate?

"Oh, come to momma." Clarisse ran over to the set of motorcycles that made _her_ start to purr. "Leo, Nyssa...I could kiss both of you but this bike has my attention at the moment."

I laughed at her while I pointed out who's bike was who's. "Okay, first things first. The cars are armored so they are bullet, monster, crash and damage proof. Meaning if someone crashes into you you'll be fine and actually takes away some of the damage from the other car due to the material. The car will also safely get you out of dangerous situations like ice, swerving vehicles and trees as best it can. It has a GPS system that won't annoy the hell out of you and all your songs already programmed into it. Kind of stole your phones for my dad, sorry. Oh, they are now monster proof by the way. Um...plenty of room, air conditioning and heating system top grade...oh! And really fast if being chased by monsters. Also has camouflage mode. The keys don't work unless it is the owners of the car's using them. Also, like Percy's sword, it returns to you even if someone stole it. Or the apartment, wherever you want it."

Calypso nodded along with what I was saying before turning to the motorcycles. She walked over to our and pulled out one of the helmets. "Intercom system, completely protective, magically fits to your head and makes it so you never have to deal with overheating due to it being black or freezing your ears off in the cold. Now, the actual bike is a two person. Thalia I'm guessing Emily can drive it so you'll have the great pleasure of being on the back seat." She gave the goth a teasing smile before returning to talking about the bikes. "As you can see these are a little bigger than a normal motorcycle, but that is because we had to fit in a lot. As soon as you sit down camouflaged armor wraps around you to the bottom of your rib cage. After slipping on the black gloves, the rest of the armor shows up. It's flexible so you can move your upper body, but you can't fall off the bike. The bike has basically the same safety features as the car, it has a GPS, also really fast when needed and finally...Monster detector. If there is a monster within a hundred yards of you, you'll know. And you'll know if it's doing any harm to anyone." She turned to me with a question in her eyes. "That's it right?"

I checked off my mental list and nodded. "Yup. I think so...and they also get mad at you if you don't go where you're supposed to during school days. If you are meant to be at school it will know and it will also know if you are excused to leave or not." I turned right around and stepped into the elevator with Calypso. When the doors closed I smiled at her as I wrapped my arms around her waist.

"They totally didn't hear the part about school, they barely listened." She slid her hands into my hair as she played with my curls. "You know, I haven't taken any of your stuff yet. I know it's a tradition now..." She glanced up at me flirtatiously as one of her hands slid down to the hem of my shirt. "I think I'll start with this."

When we finally reached our apartment, I was shirtless with my suspenders hanging around my legs like chains and I was carrying her while she kissed me. It was fun to make out on the couch like normal teenagers, which was all we did. At that point.

 _Emily's POV_

I had been shown to our room by Thalia who left me to my own devices. I stared at myself in the mirror trying to memorize all of my own features. I hadn't seen a mirror in two years but my face was exactly as I left it. I was small to say the least. I was only 5'3 and had petite features. My eyes were a light chocolate that made people melt, my hair almost black but actually just a really dark brown. I had freckles running wild all over my skin, so many that unless you looked closely you would think I was tan. I wasn't pale, just not tan either. Anyway. At this point my hair had grown to be a wavy mess that reached my hips when it wasn't up, though it always was. I had bangs that reached my jaw and covered half my face, as well as two of my four earrings. I had silver hoops in the bottom hole most of the time and diamond studs in the other ones.

Today I was decked out in a slightly complicated outfit. At the base was black leggings so soft they were slightly uncomfortable, a white crop top that was more of a bandeau with straps and cream colored flats for my feet. Over the white 'bandeau' was a purple sweater with black roses growing from the seam on the lower left hand side. It was always slipping off my shoulders, which was the reason for the crop top thing...Anyway, I also wore three types of jewellery. A golden chain key necklace that was a gift from my sister, black dangly cross earrings with little golden studs and finally...a set of three black bracelets similar to the style of the earrings.

I rubbed the key between my fingers as I tried to imagine her face, only to be interrupted by a loud knock on the door. When I opened it, I was met with the cheshire smile of Drew Tanaka. "Hello Emily. You've arrived just in time to go shopping." And that's when my day turned upside down. Literally, since some of us had to be carried over someone's shoulder to go. Including Thalia, Lou Ellen, Reyna, Piper and me of course.

Nyssa's shoes ahead of me stopped next to a huge tire as she unlocked the truck we were using to get to the stores. "Everyone in! Drew get's front cause she let me drive." That meant we all had to pile into a truck we thought didn't have enough seats.

As soon as I was dropped into a seat I was pushed to the side while another one appeared to my right as well as two more in between Nyssa and Drew. Well, More like they pulled them up. Annabeth and Katie climbed in the front, leaving the rest of us to scramble for the nine seats left. There were four in the middle then five squished in the back. In the middle it was Hazel, Calypso, Clarisse and Rachel while the only people who didn't want to go got shoved in the back leaving no escape.

When we got to the mall the girls split up. Clarisse, Hazel, Nyssa, Annabeth and Rachel took Thalia who immediately forced them to bring Lou Ellen along with them. They all went to Hot Topic and some other stores I was a bit iffy on. The rest of us headed for other stores. For example, American Eagle. They dragged us to Aéropostale, GAP, JcPenney, Forever 21...I can't name all of them. When we were finally done we had entirely new wardrobes with our heads spinning from the prices as we used one of the credit cards Rachel gave us.

I was starting to enjoy myself when we bumped into the other girls. I smiled at them as I noticed that they appeared to have just as many bags as we did. "I think we should put this stuff in the truck and leave. If we stay any longer...Drew might clean them out." I meant it as a joke but a hidden message flashed in their eyes. "I stopped at Lindor Chocolates, so that means we have to eat them before we get home or we'll have to deal with a sugar highed Leo and..." I shuddered at the thought.

Katie's smile grew grim. "And sugar highed Stoll brothers." And the image was enough to squash our happy moods. At least until we got to sit in the truck stuffing the best tasting chocolate in the world in our mouths, each of us 'secretly' taking one for our boyfriends. Or in Reyna and Rachel's cases, Solangelo.

 _Frank's POV_

While the girl's were gone we decided to check out the penthouse. Now, let me tell you something. You leave the Stolls, Cecil, Chris, Percy and Leo without their girlfriends or watch dogs, it gets a little terrifying. So thankfully Jason, Will and I found a way to get them to stop causing mayhem. We introduced them to the game room after they basically destroyed the study room, made all the computer savers Oscar the Grouch with weird hair saying "I'm right where I belong!" as he sat in his trashcan (he had help). ***I will love you forever if you know who he's mimicking***

As soon as we stepped into the game room it was like all the goddesses and our girlfriends/sisters were glaring at us all at once. Everyone shut up, everyone froze, everyone stopped breathing...But this was for a good reason. We just about started crying as the eleven of us took it all in.

Nico may not be the biggest fan of videogames, but all along the back wall was old arcade games including a 1950's pinball machine. He ran over faster than light can travel as he looked them over. Then to all of our surprise, He whirled around with the most childish smile on his face. "Will! Will! Will! Look at them!" He dragged the older boy over as he showed them how they all worked.

Cecil was slipping a camera back into his jacket when he noticed me watching me. He mouth ' _Caught the look, saving for Reyna and Hazel_ ' before looking away like nothing happened. "Oh cool! Grand Ages Medieval, limited edition...It's not supposed to come out til the end of next month!"

Jason looked a bit out of place as he looked at all of these but was soon dragged off into the chaos by Percy who decided to start a Guitar Hero 7 on battle. When he finally got the hang of it, they were laughing and trying to knock each other over while still playing the right chords. I didn't have the heart to tell them that it was still on _Easy_.

I looked around as everyone found something to play. The Stolls were playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 which even I knew was here way before release, Leo and the other two Hermes boys had grabbed Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. That left me. I chose to simply walk out of the room so I could watch tv in peace while I waited for Hazel. _I feel slightly bad that I let her go off with not one, but two daughters of Aphrodite...But I'm going to have to deal with Drew next. So I guess we're even._

When the elevator dinged all the girls but Drew spilled out giggling. I turned off my show as well as the TV and smiled at them. "You guys have fun?" When I finally found Hazel the first thing I noticed was that her hair was straight. "What'd you do to your hair?"

Hazel reached up to touch it before realizing she didn't have to since it was now really long. "Well they wanted to test out a straightner and they needed someone to test it on. I was the best person for the job since my hair is almost impossible to straighten." She blushed as she looked up at him through her lashes. "Do you like it?"

Frank chuckled as he walked over to plant a quick reassuring kiss on her forehead. "Hazel, you are never not beautiful." He smiled down at her before whispering, "But I do like your natural hair better." He felt his heart soar when she smiled up at him.

Drew awed from the elevator. There were enough bags that she was completely surrounded with some piled two high. "Ladies get your things, it needs to be all put away. And remember what I picked out for your first day outfits." She pointed an accusing finger at a few of them as they rushed to grab their things. "Tell the boys to be ready tomorrow, I don't work with angry customers."

I rolled my eyes as I turned around to go to the game room. I arrived to the sounds of cheering, swearing and loud sound effects. "The girls are back from shopping." I had simply stated the fact and how they heard me over everything was a mystery. But suddenly all the games were saved, stuff put away and everyone was best friends again. They all headed for the living room but I headed for the kitchen for a snack. What I found was Hazel smiling up at me from the counter with a milk chocolate Lindor in her hands.

Now, Hazel was never really a physical affection kind of person besides light kisses on the cheek or something. But now, she appeared to have gotten over that quickly. She let her feet swing as she spoke. "You know, I got this for you. But now...I think I want it. Unless, you're going to come get it before it melts?" She smirked at me as she quickly popped it into her mouth with an expectant look on her face.

I raised my eyebrows as I walked over to her while my cheeks burned. What had gotten into her. Hesitantly I wrapped my arms around her and looked for permission to kiss her which got me a "no duh" look. I pressed my lips to hers lightly at first, but then her arms were wrapping around my neck and her hands were grabbing what little hair I had.

Hazel slowly brushed her tongue against my lips leaving the taste of chocolate, something so good I had to get it. When I did the same back she hesitantly let me in to find the sweet. She pushed it forward for me but it broke between the force of our tongues. Chocolate filling spread over both of us as I stole back what I could before pulling away. When I opened my eyes she was pouting.

I swallowed the chocolate before rubbing the back of my neck nervously. _Did I suck at kissing? Did I pull away too early?_ I hated myself for doing that but the curiosity at what brought out this side to her took over.

She looked up at me and said, "You took all of it. I want some back." She grabbed the front of my shirt in her fist as she came back for round two. This time it was her who pulled away, finally smiling. "We should go, Cecil mentioned he had something to show me." She left me with one last, short kiss before slipping off the counter and walking to the living room.

I felt the goofiest smile escape my lips as I walked out behind her, the taste of chocolate still on the tip of my tongue. I leaned on the back wall as Hazel looked at the camera in Cecil's hand. I had never seen her happier.

Nico was blushing from where he was curled up in one of the lazy boys as he tried not to look at Will who in that picture was being shown how to use the pac man game. All of the guys had already eaten what the girls brought back for them, so it was time to have a chat.

Annabeth cleared her throat as she walked to the center of the room. "Okay guys, we need a schedule. We set a white board up in the dining room since people were busy in the kitchen." She didn't even glance at us but both Hazel and I turned a shade of red. "It'll have important stuff like practices, tests, ect... on it. If anyone get's a job they'll tell us their hours, we'll put it on a calendar and do the ones for that week." She glanced at Katie who looked pleased with herself. "We'll also have a chore list. Since Katie is going to make sure we eat healthy around here, rewards for doing chores is mostly going to be junk food. Oh, and who can cook?"

Leo and Calypso's hands shot up immediately, surprisingly Nico's too. Clarisse glared at Chris when he forced her hand up while Percy sighed as his was raised as well. "Let me guess, we'll be the chefs of the house?"

Annabeth nodded. "Nico and Leo can make dinner tonight, Clarisse and Calypso breakfast...Then I'll help Percy with dinner tomorrow. We'll figure out when people cook later, but for now it works. School starts the day after tomorrow, we're getting our schedules when Sally comes to check up on us. Oh! And when you boys go shopping you'll also be getting binders and such." With that, we were 'dismissed'.

I immediately grabbed Annabeth's arm as I dragged her over by the bathrooms and released her as soon as we got there. "Who else saw?" I raised my eyebrows at her and bit my lip when a harsh tone came out. I did not want to piss off Annabeth.

"Piper. But don't worry, we only tell our boyfriends everything. And you know how protective those boys are of their 'baby sister' Hazel." She laughed as she walked away reveling in my horror, but we both knew she was simply teasing. At least about her telling, I had no idea if Piper would.

"Shit." I bolted for my room before I could find out and try my luck at just how protective they were. As soon as I was in my room I leaned against the door sighing in relief. I jumped as I felt someone poke my stomach. "Hazel! Don't do that!"

Hazel giggled before looking down at her feet. "I'm sorry about earlier in the kitchen, I don't know what came over me. I guess it was just walking around all these different shops and noticing how all my friends acted around you guys...I just wanted to try it." She muttered quickly, "Though it was fun."

I laughed while she looked up at me horrified. "It's okay Hazel, I get it. Maybe it's the hair." I pushed it over her shoulders with one hand before wrapping an arm around her waist.

Suddenly the other Hazel was back as she stood on her tiptoes and whispered, "I guess I'll have to straighten it more often than." I could see her starting to get annoyed at the height difference between us, me towering over her 5'2 at 6'3.

Without even thinking I bent down a bit to which she jumped so she could wrap her legs around my waist, her arms around my neck. I stood up straight as I held her up by her thighs and turned so she was pressed against the door. "I think you should too."

If kissing burned calories, I would be underweight. But let's be clear on one thing. Though both her and I made major progress in how we kissed, that's it. We just kissed till we couldn't breathe, and then repeated for a while. Neither of us were ready for that.


	9. Teenagers Again

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO. I don't own the movie. One is Rick Riordan's and the other is Disney's.**

 _Nyssa's POV_

I felt bad about Drew not being here but she was the reason we were able too. As soon as a wonderful breakfast of cinnamon rolls, omelets and french toast was over, Drew whisked away the boys that tried to be saved by their girlfriends. It was actually a bit hilarious since Nico was begging at Hazel's feet while Percy and Jason wouldn't let go of their girlfriends. Finally Piper and Drew charm spoke them away for us to have our day of fun. We had planned it when we were shopping yesterday, secretly making sure we had all the supplies.

As soon as they were gone we were racing to my room giggling excitedly. I shoved open the door as everyone scrambled for one of the sleeping bags and a pillow. I hadn't felt this girly since I was in kindergarten when my mom signed me up for the beauty pageant. My talent was reprograming a barbie doll to say she wanted to go hunting with Ken and then complaining about him kissing his muscles in the mirror. I won, surprisingly. We were all still in our PJs so I still had on my " _ **All I care about if food, music festivals and maybe like, three people**_ " tank top, sweatpants and my sheep slippers. I sat on top of my sleeping back with my back against the couch which Piper and Annabeth had claimed immediately. They were sharing a bowl of popcorn which Annabeth had because Piper decided to do everyone's hair in one way or another. For Annabeth she was doing a simple french braid she would wrap into a bun.

Calypso sat down next to me with a popcorn for us to share as well, wearing a black tank top, blue plaid pajama pants and one of Leo's sweatshirts. This one was a Texas Cowboys one. "What movie are we going to watch?"

Piper cheered as she found the movie she wanted. She stood up in front of the TV with a cheshire grin. "We, are going to watch Hercules. Or should I say..."

All at once all the girls who spent time in the modern world yelled "Hunkules!" We quieted down as the movie started rolling and couldn't help but muttering along with the opening song. Annabeth snorted when it declared the stuff about Zeus but we all burst out laughing when it showed Olympus and the gods. It took us about five minutes to calm down before we could continue with watching. It took us twice as long to get to the part where Hercules meets Zeus then it should have. Annabeth loved the joke about Retirement and explained, "In greek it's only two words! 'I am' is one."

We all giggled at her smartness before turning our attention back to the movie. I was just stuffing my face full of popcorn when Calypso's phone dinged. She shushed everyone as she placed the phone on speaker. "Hello?"

"Hey Sunshine! I just wanted to let you now I found the perfect place for that date on Saturday! It's this cute little cafe with awesome Greek food, remember the one we found in the little ally? The owners are cousins! Isn't that cool?" He was bouncing, everyone could tell. "Oh, and he even offered to show us how to cook since I gave him the number for his cousin! Isn't that cool!"

Calypso was blushing horribly but she cleared her throat. "That sounds perfect. Um, should I take you off speaker now?" She wouldn't look at us which was good because we were all trying to smother our laughter.

"That's okay. Hello girls! just so you know, Drew accidentally signed Travis and Frank up for modeling jobs. Then Will joined them muttering something about, 'another reason for Nico to drool'. Sorry Hazel. Anyway, Percy got offered a job at the pet store since all the animals love him...Connor and Chris may or may not have accidentally busted a guy for robbing a store so they're junior security jobs, um...Oh! Cecil fixed the wifi for this technology store so he works there now. Guess we're set for money stuff! Oh, and you wouldn't believe what happened to Jason, Beauty Queen! We were.."

There was some arguing in the background and then a different voice was on the phone. "Come on Nico, you can not show them the pictures! Anyway, hey guys. We have shopping to do, and I promise you that if Leo tells you anything that he'll be walking on his hands for two weeks, if he can walk at all..."

As soon as the call disconnected we all burst out laughing. We made it to the part where Megara is sitting by the fountain and starts singing before we all burst out into song.

{Piper}

If there's a prize for rotten judgement

I think I've already won that

{Nyssa}

No man is worth the aggravation

That's ancient history

Been there, done that

{All of them}

Who'd you think you're kiddin'

He's the Earth and Heaven to you

Try to keep it hidden

Honey, we can see right through you

Girl, you can't conceal it

We know how you feel and

Who you're thinking of

{Thalia}

No chance, No way

I won't say it, no, no

{All}

You swoon, you sigh,

Why deny it? Uh-oh

{Hazel}

It's too cliché

I won't say I'm in love

{Lou Ellen}

I thought my heart had learned its lesson

It feels so good when you start out

{Reyna}

My head is screaming "Get a grip, girl!"

Unless you're dying to cry your heart out

Oh

{All}

You keep on denying

Who you are and how you're feeling

Baby, we're not buying

Hon, we saw you hit the ceiling

Face it like a grown-up

{Rachel}

When you gonna own up

That you got, got, got it bad?

{Emily}

No chance, no way,

I won't say it, no, no

{All}

Give up, give in

Check the grin you're in love

{Clarisse}

This scene won't play,

I won't say I'm in love

{All}

You're doin' flips, read our lips:

You're in love

{Calypso}

You're way off base, I won't say it

Get off my case, I won't say it

{All}

Girl, don't be proud

It's ok you're in love

{Katie}

Oh

At least out loud,

I won't say I'm in love

We all cheered before falling into fits of giggles as we watched the rest of the movie, Annabeth growling when she saw how Hercules treated Cerberus. "No good lying little son of a bitch..." She went on like that for a little bit before she started blushing as she saw her mom. "Hey Piper, look! You're mom is coming up!"

When she gave me a weird look but turned a dark shade of red when she saw the representation of her mom make out with the satyr. "That never happened! Never, ever, ever!" She hid her face in Thalia's hair, which had grown long since her days with the hunters. Surprisingly her hair looked like Percy's since they both didn't really care to keep it under control.

Thalia rolled her eyes as she shoved Piper off of the couch which resulted in Piper hitting her with a pillow for a return shot. Thalia's eyes lit up as she turned to her attacker. "You're going down, sister...in-law."

Piper growled but in a teasing away, only slightly threatening. "Bring it on, big sis." And then it was war. Pillows were flying everywhere as everyone choose sides, but that soon fell into complete chaos. At one point I was back to back with Emily but then I was underneath Lou as she tried to get me. It went on like that for a while till someone's phone starting ringing. I felt a buzz in my pocket so I quickly grabbed my phone to put on speaker. "Hello?"

"Hey girls! I'm just calling to warn you that we're at our last stop and the boys will be coming back soon. Unless you want them to come home and see what you planned..." Drew's voice was hushed but louder over speaker. "Bye guys! Have fun cleaning!"

With that the phone cut out and the scrambling began. It took half an hour to get everything in order except for us which Piper fixed with a prayer, just as the door opened. We were all in normal clothes thank god but our hair wasn't as crazy as before, nor was anything about us. Any bruises and physical evidence of what had transpired was gone. We all sent silent thank yous to Aphrodite for that.

The boys with girlfriends gave them quick pecks before running to their rooms with all their stuff since Drew had to come up with all the bags like last time. She giggled as she walked over and nodded in approval. "I see the prayer to our mother worked, right Piper? We also got more groceries and actual cooking utensils, plates, etc. Anyway, The boys are going to look amazing on their first days of school!"

When the boys came back down they each had a back pack to give us which was nice. I received mine from Will who gave me a quick hug since he understood how left out I felt since almost everyone was in a relationship, making googly eyes at each other (cough Drew cough cough Connor cough) or were hunters. I wasn't going to become a hunter, I still wanted a chance at happily ever after with a significant other. I wasn't exactly picky on who.

Around dinner time the elevator opened to allow Sally in. Most of us that had been at camp since before the titan war knew her, since she and her husband Paul actually killed a lot of monsters in their defense. As soon as she was out of the elevator, Percy was charging towards her. He hugged her tightly before pulling back with his usual goofy smile on his face. "Hey mom. I missed you! Oh, how's Paul doing? What's this news you wanted to tell me?"

Sally didn't even get to say anything before Nico ran in, freezing when he saw Sally. "I thought Paul was with you." They shared a knowing look before he hugged her. "I'll go find Annabeth while you hand out schedules."

I stared at Nico quizzically before it dawned on me. He could sense life forces which meant...I smiled as I walked over. "Hey Sally, do you remember me? Nyssa, from the Hephaestus cabin."

She nodded giving me a warm smile for support. "I do. Thank you for trapping that telekine by the way. Nice use of a telephone wire." She then turned to everyone else and glanced at Percy with an expectant look. "Are you going to introduce me to everyone I don't know or am I going to have to do it myself?"

Percy shook his head before pointing everyone out. "The blonde is Jason, Thalia's half brother. He's a son of Jupiter if you don't remember, then the daughters of Aphrodite sitting next to him are Piper and Drew. Drew is the one next to Rachel who you remember. Reyna is sitting in front of Rachel, they're dating. Reyna is the leader of the Roman camp, daughter of a war goddess, and her co leader is Frank, son of Mars. He's sitting behind Thalia and Hazel, daughter of Pluto. You know the story. Anyway, the elf that just walked in is Leo and the girl on his arm is Calypso. Yes, daughter of Atlas, blah blah. She turned mortal for him. Tried to one up me for turning down immortality for Annabeth." They stuck their tongues out at each other before smiling. "And you remember Annabeth of course."

Sally hugged Annabeth tightly as she touched the familiar grey streaks with a motherly look on her face. "I seem to remember there were only one or two of these last time." She shook her head before handing out the schedules. "Alright. You all have at least one other person in your class, thankfully you all have the same lunch but you don't have any other classes all together. Oh, and before I forget..." She checked to make sure all the cousins were there before the biggest smile to ever exist crawled onto her lips. "Percy, we kind of need your room for someone else now. I mean, at least in eight months we will." Everyone gasped, as realization started to dawn on Percy's face. "I'm pregnant."

Everyone was congratulating her all the way up until the point she stepped in the elevator, when our attention went to our schedules.

Here were the schedules:

 _ **Blue Days:**_

 _Early Block: (7:30 - 8:30)_

 _Class: Greek Mythology with Margarita Cortez (Sophomores and Juniors)_

 _Class: Latin with Lynn Blake (Seniors)_

 _First Period: (8:30 - 10:00)_

 _Class: Art with Kristin Thompson (Percy, Travis, Katie, Annabeth, Thalia, Jason, Piper, Will, Frank, Nico, Hazel)_

 _Class: Gym with Elaine Marsh (Reyna, Rachel, Clarisse, Chris, Nyssa, Emily, Leo, Calypso, Connor, Drew, Cecil, Lou Ellen)_

 _ **Note: Gym and Art are semester long classes, they switch when one semester ends**_

 _Second Period: (10:00 - 11:30)_

 _Class: Sophomore Science with Joanna Rhodes (Cecil, Nico, Hazel)_

 _Class: Junior Science with Stacey Cole(Connor, Drew, Frank, Piper, Jason)_

 _Class: Senior Science with Mitchell Carter (Lou Ellen, Will, Leo, Calypso, Thalia, Nyssa, Emily, Travis, Katie, Chris, Clarisse, Rachel, Reyna, Percy, Annabeth)_

 _Lunch: (11:30 - 12:00)_

 _Third Period: (12:00 - 1:30)_

 _Class: Algebra 2 with Cindy Murray (Cecil, Lou Ellen, Nico, Hazel)_

 _Class: Advanced Algebra with Gina Jensen (Piper, Leo, Calypso, Connor, Will)_

 _Class: Trigonometry with Ivan Harvey (Jason, Frank, Drew, Thalia, Nyssa, Katie, Travis, Rachel, Clarisse, Chris, Percy)_

 _Class: Calculus with Thomas Rodgers (Annabeth, Reyna)_

 _Fourth Period: (1:30 - 3:00)_

 _Class: Marine Biology with Kristy Webb(Percy)_

 _Class: Architecture with Katrina Wright (Annabeth, Emily)_

 _Class: Debate Janis Cross (Drew)_

 _Class: Shop with Morris Steele (Leo, Calypso, Nyssa)_

 _Criminology (Piper)_

 _Extracurricular: (3:00 - 5:00)_

 _Sports:_

 _Swim Team (Year Round) :_

 _Sam Ross (Coach) : Percy_

 _Horseback Riding (Year Round) :_

 _Ellis Horton (Coach) : Hazel, Reyna_

 _Soccer (Fall) :_

 _Rufus Patrick (Coach) : Thalia, Lou Ellen_

 _Sara Robertson (Coach) : Nico, Cecil_

 _Football (Fall) :_

 _Scott Davis (Coach) : Frank, Jason_

 _Cheerleading (Fall - Winter) :_

 _Claire Woods (Coach) : Drew, Piper_

 _Mathletes (Fall - Winter) :_

 _Bobby Fowler (Coach) : Annabeth_

 _Basketball (Winter) :_

 _Alexander Rodgers (Coach) : Jason, Will_

 _Wrestling (Winter?) :_

 _Kathleen Blair (Coach) : Clarisse_

 _Christopher Bowers (Coach) : Frank_

 _Lacrosse (Spring) :_

 _Virginia Davis (Coach ) : Annabeth_

 _Clubs:_

 _Gardening Club: Travis, Katie_

 _Book Club: Emily_

 _Key Club : Rachel_

 _ **Orange Days:**_

 _Early Block: (7:30 - 8:30)_

 _Class: Greek Mythology with Conrad Andrews (Seniors)_

 _Class: Latin with Anna Mcgee (Sophomores and Juniors)_

 _First Period: (8:30 - 10:00)_

 _Class: Chemistry with Joy Higgins (Junior)_

 _Class: Chemistry with Brendan Haynes (Sophomore and Senior)_

 _Second Period: (10:00 - 11:30)_

 _Class: Sophomore Humanities with Wilma Warner (Cecil, Lou Ellen)_

 _Class: Junior and Senior Humanities with John Stokes and Paul Bolis (+Nico and Hazel)_

 _Lunch: (11:30 - 12:00)_

 _Third Period: (12:00 - 1:30)_

 _Class: Human Bio with Antonio Rios(Sophomores and Juniors)_

 _Class: Human Bio with Georgia Reed (Seniors)_

 _Fourth Period: (1:30 - 3:00)_

 _Class: FACS with Wendy Rose(Sophomores)_

 _Class: FACS with Preston Goodman (Juniors and Seniors)_

 _Extracurricular: (3:00 - 5:00)_

I looked it over and smiled as I realized that I would always be with someone I could talk to, someone not goo gooing in a relationship or about to be in one. Like Emily or Thalia. Except for shop, but it didn't matter. Leo was also my younger brother so I could deal with not hanging out with him for a little...I could hear people groaning or arguing over things that I really didn't care about, so I simply carried my backpack to my room so I could look through it's contents. I had a binder for every class except for FACS, Gym, Art and Shop. For Shop I had a organized notebook for designs and stuff. I smiled as I looked over the map of the school and was surprised to find that it was really simple. The bottom floor was numbered in the 100s and the second floor was numbered in the 200s. It was basically two giant loops, so I might be late but I couldn't really get lost.

"You know if you stare at that stuff for too long then you'll turn out like Annabeth, but with out a Percy. Well, I approve of the last part. Anyway, I promise to fulfill my role as the annoying younger brother." Leo was leaning on the doorway as his signature smirk appeared, looking around my room with interest. "Nice be. You get it all to yourself?"

I rolled my eyes at him but nodded anyway. "Drew get's the hammock. Did Percy explain the blue and orange days?" I watched as he straightened his back so he was standing tall which he had actually become, than walk over so he could sit down next to me on the bed.

"He said that it alternated the classes. Three blue days one week and two the next. The colors were picked because they're the schools, the mascot being a Shark. I mean, Goode Sharks? I don't get it." Leo sighed like it was the saddest thing in the world that he couldn't figure it out.

I tried shoving him off the bed but that just ended in us play fighting and laughing like idiots. It was the first time I'd laughed in years and it felt amazing. I had always felt so reserved at camp but here...I was free. And I loved it. If I had a choice, I would try living in the city, only visiting camp. Maybe going to college or travelling,...I had always wanted to go to Africa or Australia. Because at camp war was always right around the corner. There was always another battle to win or lose, not everyone having or getting to go home to a family. Because they simply don't have one or they live too far away.

Leo noticed my expression change, his laughter dying out. "Common Nyssa, stop doing this. You always think about how bad our situation is. But think of this. Would you have met anyone if we weren't half bloods? Would you have gotten to build a warship, take care of an automaton dragon? No. So please, stop doing this. No matter how terrible our lives were up until this point, there is nothing that happens after Gaea died for a long long time. We'll all be in the isles of bless by then, maybe even our children will be."

I let out a breath as I smiled. "When did you become so smart? I think Calypso is rubbing off on you little brother." I ruffled his curls as he tried to glare at me, but we were both too busy laughing which only worsened when Drew came in, giving us weird looks.


	10. Reunited

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from the HOO or PJO series, all I own is plot and OCS. Yay! This is actually way longer than I expected, I'm really happy about that. I hope you guys like it, I can fix stuff in other chapters but so far...eep! I'm doing good!**

 _Leo's POV_

I woke up to find a spray of hair across my chest that I was positive wasn't mine. I smiled when I remembered what had happened. "Wake up beautiful, it's time for school." I kissed her head as I tried to sit up.

"Leo if you move I will incinerate you. We are not waking up." Calypso rolled over to look at the clock before groaning. "I hate the modern world." She gave me a lingering kiss as she pulled away. "I'm going to take a shower, hopefully no one else is up. You should too, you smell like oil." She stood to stretch out her muscles and smirked as I raised my eyebrows. "Not that I'm complaining. After my shower, you want to help with breakfast?"

"Sunshine, I'll be done making breakfast by the time you're out." I laughed as she pouted and walked over to her, almost tripping on the comforter dangling my feet. "Just be weary of Piper, not a morning person. Neither is Thalia." I kissed her quickly before grabbing my own clothes to change into.

As predicted, I was in the kitchen first. A few people were up, like Will and Nico for instance but they were the only ones besides me not lazily getting ready in the bathroom or going to knock on doors. Nico and I somehow fell into a pattern while we worked in the kitchen. After we had slipped 'Kiss The Chef' aprons on, it started out with one of us working on the cool stuff while the other cooked. Between the shouting in Italian and Spanish we didn't really notice when everyone was finally seated at the table. I only did because Nico had dared me to flip an egg into the air and onto a plate. Of course the egg missed.

A plate shot out of nowhere to catch it just in time with a smiling Calypso on the other end. "Hey, we're ready to eat if you guys are done cooking." I took a second to look over what she was wearing, only to make sure no boys would be drooling. Of course she was beautiful in anything, but I still wanted to look. She was wearing skinny jeans that had frayed a bit, a black top with a lop of complicated wire thin straps in the back, a tan beanie to cover the french braid her hair was in and a necklace I gave her with a gold chain and the word 'love' written out in cursive. That's when I noticed she was taller then me, which wasn't right. I looked down at her feet to find greek style golden sandal heels that gave her an extra four inches on me.

"Don't your feet hurt?" I felt a bit of heat rise to my cheeks but they were already pink from working over the stove. Before she could answer, I grabbed the food in her hand and piled the rest of the eggs on top. "Everyone eat up."

I turned to find Calypso's lips on mine, leaving too soon. "It says kiss the chef..." She walked away to get food and my vision, due to my teenage boy hormones, moved to her ass. Immediately I chastised myself for doing so before joining in on the feast. Now was not the time.

I watched as everyone scrambled around trying to get everything in order. The kitchen and dining room cleaned, car keys in hand, jackets backpacks, anything and everything flying everywhere. I was just getting my books ready when Hazel walked over.

"How do I look? Frank is busy fixing everything and the aphrodite girls are freaking out because of...something. I need someone's unbiased opinion." She spun around making the purple strapless dress she was wearing flare out. It was to just past her knees which I'm sure her overprotective bodyguards liked, also the part where she was wearing a black blazer over it with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Her normally frizzy hair had fallen into curls with the front ones pulled back with a black bow and just like Calypso, she was in heels. But her's were simple black ones and they were only about three inches which was good for my sanity.

I smiled at her in a way I hope was kind. "You look amazing Hazel, now go help Frank before he get's jealous again." I turned to slam heads with Annabeth. With my mind still on outfits, my eyes focused on hers.

Annabeth was wearing simple blue jeans, black high top converse, a maroon t shirt that definitely wasn't hers, a yankee's beanie and a necklace that I couldn't see what the charm was. As soon as I comprehended that I steadied both of us. She smiled at me before glaring at my shirt. "I keep forgetting you're texan."

I looked down, trying to remember what shirt I was wearing. What I found was my Dallas Cowboys shirt my mom got me a few sizes too big when I was younger, jeans stained from hours of work in the forge and bunker nine, as well as combat boots with the same stains. "Me too apparently."

Annabeth laughed before shoving my backpack at me before grabbing Percy yelling that they were heading to the cars and that if anyone was ready and needed a ride they would have to hurry their sorry ass up.

I rolled my eyes as I noticed the only people following were Jason and Piper. Jason had both their backpacks, trying to be a good boyfriend. I smiled as I noticed Calypso walk over to me with a huge grin on her face. "You ready to go?"

Calypso nodded and basically dragged me to the elevator which we got to just in time. She smirked at Piper and said, "Looks like someone went with Drew's choice."

Piper blushed as she fiddled with the hem of her shirt. It was a long sleeved light sweater type thing with a hood in the back. The sleeves and hood were pale while the other part of the shirt was a pink and white flower type design. She was actually wearing makeup which was weird for her, but it was only a little. She had on black jeans or leggings or whatever they're called, black flats and some jewelry. A key necklace and a pair of pink rose earrings. "Yeah well. It does look nice." She grinned at me before turning to the boys. "Is this what Drew picked out?"

They nodded and I would have laughed if I didn't bite my lip. Jason was wearing a grey sweater with a wolf printed on the front to represent his roman upbringing, black jeans and white nike sneakers with a black emblem. Percy on the other hand, was wearing ripped up jeans, a galaxy sweatshirt and black high tops.

Calypso giggled beside me as she whispered, "Guess Drew wasn't going for subtle, was she?" That got a chuckle out of me just as the doors opened. She walked with me over to our bike and hesitantly pulled on the helmet.

I pulled on my own as I slid off my back pack with one arm to put it in the compartment beneath the seats with hers before sitting down, waiting for her to sit as I felt the armor climbing up my legs. "You coming sunshine?" I felt her arms wrap tightly around me and her legs bump my thighs. I turned it on as I felt the roar of the engine beneath me and raced out of our garage into the open street.

Calypso hugged me tightly as we made our way through New York traffic. " _You sure this is safe? I mean have you even ridden one of these before?_ " I could hear the panic in her voice as I remembered how isolated she was.

" _I have ridden one of these before, never crashed. I promise we will get to school safely._ " Of course I didn't tell her that I was in the passenger seat for most of them. That would just end badly and I was really starting to enjoy being live again.

 _Drew's POV_

After breakfast I had cleared away my spot and ran upstairs to get ready. Sure I had taken a shower but I had just thrown on the dress I picked out without even styling my hair or anything. As I stood in my closet which to my luck held a full length mirror, I looked over my finished product. A strapless pink dress that flowed out in four layers before reaching my knees, held snug at the waist with a ribbon turned into a flower towards the left. To accent the dress I was wearing a matching set of jewelry that consisted of a pair of silver dove earrings and a necklace with the same charm dangling from a chain, as well as black sandal heels to finally make me as tall as Connor. Not that it mattered or anything. To tie everything together, as well as cover my arms from view, I slipped on a black leather jacket which went nicely. I touched up the little makeup I had on before pulling my dead straight hair into a messy bun. I walked out of my closet to find Nyssa fixing the part of her hair.

Nyssa looked up at me with a worried look. "Is this the one you wanted?" I looked over her outfit to find it wasn't the one I had but it actually fit her way better. A black sweater with the words **NORMAL PEOPLE SCARE ME** written in bold white lettering written across it, maroon skinny jeans with two pockets on either side in the front, black and grey high tops, black bow earring visible due to her tucking her hair behind her ears, a black bracelet with gold studs and army dog tags that belonged to her half brother.

"No. But it's perfect, who knew you had a fashion sense?" I smiled at her and looped our arms as I dragged her out into the chaos. I looked over everyone to make sure they were in the right outfits starting with the girls. I didn't see my sister, Calypso or Annabeth so they must have left already. Boo. But I saw Lou right away which was exactly what I wanted.

She was wearing a blank loose tank top with a punk version of Ariel on the front. Blue hair, dark makeup, a tattoo, a black flower in her hair and a black top. To go with it she had on blue jeans in pristine condition, dark blue high heeled sneakers, a black bow to pull back her brown and pink hair, a set of black studded bracelets, a black flowered silver ring, a Pierce the Veil phone case and her nails painted the same light blue as the hair on her shirt. She was currently trying to shove an extra book in her bag with words written in a language I didn't know for a title.

Next I found Clarisse who was in the perfect outfit to represent who she was. She was wearing black skinny jeans that had frayed a little, high heeled lace up black boots, a loose red rock rebel t shirt with a black rose on it with a black tank top underneath, a black beanie and some jewelry I picked out. A gold dragon tooth necklace, a pair of gold and black bow earrings, as well as the final piece, a black heart ring. When the girl looked up at me she nodded to show she actually liked what I picked out.

When I found Thalia I was a bit disappointed that she didn't wear one of the dresses I gave her but was happy to see she went with another set I had. She was wearing a black t shirt that said in bold white lettering, 'You call me _weird_ like it's a bad _thing'_ grey skinny jeans with holes at the knees, black high top sneakers with zippers on the sides and a dark grey beanie. She had accessorized herself with a lightning bolt necklace made of silver, crescent moon earrings embedded with jewels and a backpack with skulls like the masks they have for the day of the dead. All in all I thought I did well, though I wished she would let her hair grow out of the spiky mess she usually had it in.

To Thalia's right was Emily who I was having a hard time with. I ended up letting her go off on her own which now made me happy because she was wearing some things i wouldn't expect of a hunter. For example, rainbow tie dye ked high tops. She was also wearing grey jeans and a black shirt that said 'I believe in love at first chapter' with a red heart replacing the o. For accessories she had on silver cat earrings. Then of course her black black backpack with the word "Moschino" written on it. This girl was slightly weird but from what I could tell she had this aura around that held so much love it hurt me to look at her, so much love. So much pain and loss.

I quickly turned away to find a happy sight. Reyna was trying to get Rachel to stop teasing her about her outfit. I had put Reyna in a blue dress that reached about mid thigh that had a layer of the exact same color lace covering it that reached her knees. To compliment her I had picked out a golden horse necklace and silver paw print earrings, a no pictures please phone case since she looked amazing, as well as showed her how to fishtail braid her hair then put it up in a neat bun. On her feet she wore simple black flats that she had picked out for herself which made me happy.

Now I hadn't even bothered with trying to force stuff on Rachel, simply adding on to what she picked out. What she had on actually when well which was a relief to me. She had a Van Gogh painting skirt that seemed to come alive when she twirled, a grey tank top tucked into it and a pair of lace up wedge heels. I had given her a pair of diamond earrings to wear, as well as a black and clear diamond necklace with a silver chain and a matching ring to go with it. But she just had to but the stupid black scarf. that hung around her neck now. I tried to remind myself that it was fine, but it still irritated me. So I focused on my last victims out of the girls.

Hazel looked exactly the way I had dressed her up in the stores, so I turned to Katie who turned into my personal assistant during this since she actually had good fashion sense when she had a credit card with unlimited money on it. Not really unlimited but you get the point. Anyway, she was wearing blue colored jeans and a grey and black dyed shirt with black and red vine designs twirling around it. On her feet she wore wedge heels with thick ribbon like straps, which went nicely with her black heart shaped earrings with diamond tiger stripes. To finish off the lock she had on a simple silver bracelet with a flower charm. Her hair was down in waves, framing her face and the little makeup she had on.

When I was certain the girls were ready for perfection, I turned my eyes on the boys, starting with the Hermes ones. Connor had on khaki shorts and a grey Rolling Stones T shirt. On his feet he wore black high tops. I pouted as I remembered how he refused to wear anything else I put on him. Travis was more helpful. He let me grab a pair of jeans and some nice high tops then the ratty ones his brother was wearing, but he insisted on wearing a t shirt that said 'You had me at let's go to Taco Bell'. Cecil and Chris both wore a nice pair of jeans and some t shirts they picked out, as well as sneakers to match their brothers. Boring. Absolutly boring.

Nico and Frank on the other had just gave me their sizes, saying no to things they would never wear in a million years and some complaining about some stuff they didn't want to try on but still did. Nico was decked out in grey jeans, dark high tops and a grey shirt that read 'Sorry I'm late, I didn't want to come'. He loved that one when I picked it out. But that faded when I told him he would have to wear one of Will's jackets with it if I got it for him. I won of course.

Frank went all Canadian. A white T shirt with a moose with red antlers, jeans and cool sneakers. They were black with red laces and stripes on the heels. He also appreciated when I pointed out some stuff Hazel had liked that I wouldn't get her and I let him buy with the rest of the guys not knowing.

Finally, Will Solace. I basically ignored him the entire time and let him get everything he wanted before showing it to me. And then I wanted to burn it. I quickly searched for anything better than what he handed me and came up with a lot. Yay! I threw him a plain black T shirt with a dark blue button up to go over it and a pair of jeans. Oh, and some dark blue high tops. Thank gods they looked good or I would have cried.

When I was positive everyone was ready to go I grabbed Nyssa and Connor before running to the door to make sure we were one of the first ones to leave. What I found was two cars and a motorcycle were missing, as well as Travis and Katie making out against their car. "Ew! And that's a lot coming from me." I turned away before I could see them blush and piled into the front seat of Nyssa's car, content with letting Connor think he had to sit in the back due to his recent behavior. Soon we were off to school with everyone else filing in behind us. I was actually quite excited to make some mortal friends since basically being related to everyone is boring. Well, almost most of the time.

 _Lou Ellen's POV_

Hi! Didn't think you'd hear from me, did you? Oh right, story. Sorry. Anyway I had to ride with Travis and Katie who had to be reminded constantly to keep their bedroom eyes off each other. I hated technology with a passion, cars weren't an exception. I liked animals and stuff because they were controllable. Technology hated magic and I hated it. Simple as that. So driving around in a car that if hit right would turn me into a crepe, was not the best thing to ever happen to me. When we got to school I was all to happy to grab my bag and bolt from the car with Cecil in tow.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Cecil laughed as I dragged him through the throng of teenagers as I followed Calypso's magic trail. "I mean...Oh I guess you do." What we found was everyone who left before us receiving lockers. "Hey guys."

The man behind the desk was probably in his fifties, with greying hair that was still covering his entire head, a bit of a beard on his face that looked okay and very young brown eyes with wrinkles from smiling. "Hello. Can I help you?"

I smiled brightly at him for not commenting on the pink streaks in my hair. "Yes, could you get the information needed for Lou Ellen Magic and Cecil Travel please?" I felt Cecil fix the way our hands were so it was more comfortable making my cheeks flare up.

He nodded as he finished handing the stuff to everyone else and then looked through a filing cabinet, flipping through the different names. When he handed our files out he gave us a kind smile and said, "Have a Goode day!"

We walked out after saying our thanks so we could put all our stuff away in our lockers. Ours were luckily all in the same area since Paul had pulled some strings but I still was down the hall from everyone else. So I didn't see the hit, but I heard it.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? I move away because I don't have an aunt because of you! Now you show up eight years later, with Percy f*cking Jackson as a friend!" A girl that was a little taller than Leo in heels was staring him down. She had her hair all done up and was in something Drew might wear so it wasn't slutty, but it was implied.

Leo had a red mark the size of a fist on his jaw with his eyes fuming. "Oh shut up Rosie, you know I didn't kill her. It was a fire and I couldn't save her. I was seven! If you don't remember correctly, I had to deal with losing a mom! My entire family because y'all shut me out and sent me to foster care!" He straighten his back so he was staring her eye to eye. "Where's Mariana, Rosie?"

The girl sneered. "She'll be here soon with Ezmar, you missed the party by the way. She turned two last month." With that the princess left with everyone staring at Leo and the retreating figure.

Before anyone could question him, but after I finally got to them, another girl walked into the building who had everyone's attention. She looked identical to the girl who just left except for the way she dressed. Her hair was thrown up in a messy bun, wearing jeans a band shirt and a pair of sneakers. By her side was a little toddler who had the same curly dark hair and smiling brown eyes the girl did. She was dressed in a blue dress, white leggings and a pair of sneakers.

When Leo say them a huge smile crossed his face. "Mariana!" The girl looked up shocked as the little toddler ran forward shouting, "Uncle Leo!" who picked her up in a hug when she got to him. "Hey darling." His southern accent was slipping in, mixing with the spanish one he already had.

Mariana ran over grinning like mad saying, "Leo! What are you doing here?" When she saw the ran welt on his cheek fading into a bruise her face fell. "I see I'm late to the family reunion." She smiled at Percy and gave him a fist bump. "I see you've met my cousin Leo already."

Percy nodded as he gave the little girl a high five. "I didn't know you guys were cousins when I met him, I promise. Kind of just figured it out. He came to the camp I go to over the summer, kind of hated him at first." He slung an arm around Annabeth's shoulders as he smiled and said, "This is Annabeth. The other blonde is Jason, my cousin who I just found out about. Long story. The girl with the feather in her hair is Piper, his girlfriend. Then the girl next to Leo is Calypso, his girlfriend."

"Finally! Welcome to the family Calypso." Mariana gave her a quick hug before holding her hands out to Ezmar. "Come here, hija."

"No, quédate con Leo." Ezmar hid her face in Leo's should who promptly shrugged making everyone laugh. That's when everyone else showed up. It took until the bell rang for introductions, explanations and everyone putting stuff away in their lockers. It was weird how Ezmar seemed to know Emily, but I guess it might have just been a child thing.

We didn't have early blocks on the first day which made me sad. I had gym class next which meant I had to follow the stream of girls going into the locker room, unsure of what they would think of my scars. I had this class with Reyna, Rachel, Clarisse, Chris, Nyssa, Emily, Leo, Calypso, Connor, Drew and Cecil which meant our little group of girls stuck to the corner. Calypso was balancing Ezmar in one arm while changing with the other which she seemed to do effortlessly The girl seemed to do well with children so they didn't worry about it.

"Woah, what happened to you lot?" A lower voice said, coming into view as I turned around. I had just taken off my shirt leaving the remains of large gashes visible. "I'm sorry if that's offensive, I'm just concerned. That looks like it could have killed you." The girl before us was actually quite petite with long blue hair and smirking green eyes. "I have my own, but they're from my surgery." She glanced down at her chest before blushing slightly. "Explains the voice, right? It was over the summer so it hasn't changed yet."

I smiled as I said, "Good for you. These are from a bad accident that happened at our summer camp, which luckily had a state of the art medical facility since you can train to be a doctor there." I went back to changing which signaled her to leave us be till we got out of the locker room. glaring at one of the other boys. "

I met up immediately with Cecil who was glaring at a kid who was standing with a bunch of random dressed boys. "Asked Chris if he got the scars from his girl, and then made fun of Leo for being a foster kid. One of them knew him, so."

Clarisse was fuming next to me as she tried to calm her breath. "Come on, at least they aimed it towards me." She turned away in Chris's chest as he planted a kiss on her forehead to calm her down.

Calypso handed Ezmar over, slowly walking towards the guys. But Rachel stopped her before she could rip out their precious organs. "Oh, what's the point of having my beauty stay the same if I can't use it to belittle shitty mortals?"

Leo laughed as he played with his niece before walking over to the coach. "Hey Mrs. Marsh, I'm Leo Valdez. I'm sure you know Ezmar. I'm Marianna's cousin but I'm not sure if it's okay that I have her in class."

"Call me Elaine." The woman smiled at him through whitened teeth, flexing the ring on her lip. "Ezmar stays with me when you're doing some activities, right hun?"

The little girl in his arms nodded excitedly. "I get to see Blues Clues!" She climbed out of his arms and over to an open chair off to the side while she picked up a phone so she could watch the old kids show.

"Okay then! Everyone over here!" She called as she walked over to the bleachers as everyone piled in. "Today we're going to be talking about what we'll be doing over the course of the school year. We're going to be doing a defense class, a fencing class, a winter sports unit and an undecided one. Kay guys?"

We all made random noises to show our agreement which got a giggle from the sidelines. Leo kept glancing over there nervously but I sent a wave of magic around her to make sure no monster could see her. When she asked if anyone was experienced in defense we all raised our hands.

I was picked to go against one of the football jocks which made me grin evilly. "I promise I'll go easy on you, I might even let you win." Cecil was shaking his head at me from the side lines to let me know no magic. Fine by me.

The guy was about 6 feet, a bit lanky. But he still had some muscles under that shirt that just weren't well defined. He had the advantage in weight, but he also might underestimate me. Which was always a mistake. He was defending, so I'd be throwing the first punch.

I circled him for a second, analyzing the way he moved. Before e could even blink I slammed my foot into his gut and jumped on his back. To his credit he did immediately flip me off of it but I tripped him in the process. I reached around to find the pressure point under his armpit, making him yelp. With the pain as a distraction, I got my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist to lock me in place.

The students were watching with shocked awe as he finally passed out, meaning I won. I grinned up at them. "Lesson one, you don't always win." I felt a kick to my ankle set me off balance, dropping me to the mat. I rolled away before facing my attacker.

Cecil smirked as Chris helped the guy off the mat. "Lesson two. Never turn your back to them." He aimed a hit to my jaw but I back flipped away, successfully kicking away this hand. He surged forward as I stood up, flipping me over his shoulder before dropping me onto my stomach.

I growled playfully as I slammed my hand into the back of his knee forcing him to come down with me. I slammed an elbow into his chest before pinning him down. "Lesson three, weight isn't everything."

Cecil threw me off with an arching of his back before repeating the move I did on me. "Lesson four, weakening your opponent gives you an advantage." When I couldn't shove him off he smirked. "Say uncle."

I glared at him. "Uncle. Now let me up." I let him pull me up before slamming a fist into his shoulder, accidentally cracking it. "Lesson five, not everyone follows the rules." I turned to the teacher to find a slight glare on her face.

"Though you two seem to know a lot about this, making one of my students pass out is not acceptable. Neither is buttig in." Elaine shook her head at us.

Cecil pouted. "What, I'm not allowed to be the hero for once?" He slung an arm around me as we returned to our seats, but I knew how he felt. We were the forgotten soldiers, not like the leaders at camp. We weren't anything. Class ended when the bell rang, just as I stepped out of the changing room. I saw Leo with Ezmar in his arms as he waited for Calypso, realizing school might not be that bad after all.


	11. Frenemies

**Disclaimer: All I own is the plot and OC characters. Anyway, sorry for taking so long to update, know you guys hate excuses since now I'm on both ends of this but I promise I will get better it's just I've had to study hard for some big tests coming up that make up 35% of my grade of something like that. So yeah. Will update more ASAP.**

 _Will's POV_

After suffering through an actually okay science class with a few flirtatious smiles thrown my way, I basically ran to lunch with everyone else. When I saw Nico sitting alone I scooted around people too plant myself next to him. "Eat."

Nico groaned as he hid his face in my neck before pulling away and blushing. He seemed nervous but then he saw Percy and Jason looking at him with disapproving facial expressions.

Percy dramatically held his hand out to Jason who dramatically accepted with flourish, before they walked over hand in hand. "And no, I'm not saying no homo."

"Love you too bro. I guess you really do have a thing for blondes." Jason laughed as Percy's face turned pink but for revenge there was a kiss on the cheek waiting for him.

Piper walked over with Annabeth, giggling at the scene their boyfriends were making. "Did you make the blonde joke? Because really Jason, you do go for the rebel children with distant fathers."

Annabeth laughed next to her as she planted a kiss on her own boyfriend. "And Percy does tend to go for the smart blondes who may actually be able to kick his ass." She glared playfully when Piper hit her's. "Guess that just leaves us, lonely and heart broken."

Nico gagged from across the table. "I am choking on your gayness. And I'm the actual gay one here." He shuddered as they all smirked at him before sitting down.

"No Cecil, I did not! He was the one who tried to flirt with me, don't worry your pretty little head." Lou was glaring at him as they walked over, but it quickly changed to happiness when she saw everyone else. "Hey."

Hazel ran over with Frank as they all tried squeezing into the two tables we'd pulled together so there was room for everyone. "You are never going to believe what happened!"

Clarisse and Chris stormed over with the rest of the Hermes children and their girlfriends right behind them. Right after each other people showed up with a range of different emotions. Before anyone could explain, Calypso walked over with puffy red eyes. "Leo said he had to spend some time with his family, the one I'm not a part of."

Everyone froze, the anger fading out of everyone. Piper choked on the food she was scarfing down as she coughed out a "what?!" When Calypso just sat down looking heartbroken, she shook her head. "I think he just used the wrong words. His biological family needs some time before being introduced to us. It's a big step for them to even know he's here."

Everyone agreed, but she just shook her head. "He's with Rosie, her crew, Marianna and Ezmar." And then the sobs came as she put her head on the arms she had criss crossed on the table, her shoulders shaking. "It was too good to be true..." Before anyone could say anything to comfort her, she whispered, "I gave up everything for him. Did he tell you I'm mortal now? As soon as I left I was stripped of the title."

Everyone froze as she lifted her head. "I can't go back home now, I can't even get back to camp half blood without permission...I'm clear sighted like Rachel...but I'm half titan now. I'm, according to the boundary, a monster."

Piper glared at her. "Stop pitying yourself. I know you don't think you need this right now, but you do. Leo loves you so much he died for knew he was going to be the one who died because of his oath so don't argue. He worked through hell to get to you and nothing is going to change that. You aren't apart of that family because you aren't related to him. Her crew is probably there because they always follow his cousin around. For heaven's sake Tyson still needs permission to get into camp sometimes and he's not a monster! So stop it." She went back to eating as if nothing had just happened, as if no one's hearts were still pounding.

 _Leo's POV_

"Alright. You're back, where are you staying? I want to know so I know where to send the police. I want to know who you are staying with, how you got here, and most importantly how you became friends with someone like people you are hanging around." Rose glared at him under thick mascara lashes as her pose hid behind her.

I held back an eye roll as I cleared my throat. "I can't remember what the actual address is, but I know it's an apartment building that Rachel's dad owns. I'm staying with my friends. Anyway, it's kind of a long story for the friend ting. Basically I got sent to a boarding school where I met Piper and Jason. Jason used to go to this camp that two of the other kids are from. There are two camps for the same reason, the one in Cali and the other one that's here. Most of the other kids go to the one that's here. Since Piper's dad told her that she should go to the camp, I got dragged along with Jason. That's kind of how we met everyone. The camp's didn't really trust each other when they found out they were created for the same reason because they didn't know if we were a bunch of kleptomaniacs with mental disabilities and we didn't know if they were just a bunch of military kids that like the Roman way of punishment too much. Anyway, it all worked out. I got here because we threw a party because I got sent away by some foster parents which is where I met Calypso, but they let me go back. Someone spiked the drinks and here I am. Camp directors don't like underaged teenagers having achohol." I tried to remember if there was anything else before a faint smile light my lips. "I found my dad."

I swear the shock on their faces looked like electricity but as soon as I told them about my dad the reaction was the same. "WHAT?!"

"He's a mechanical engineer for this big company with some of the most powerful people in the world working there. Mom didn't tell me but he visited her, saw some of my inventions. Even after I got put in the system. Turns out he couldn't and didn't know how to support or take care of a kid but we get along now. He knows a lot of my friends parents, kind of how we all got sent to the same camp. But whatever. Anyway, that enough?"

Marianna looked torn between cheering and smacking him. "Why...Why didn't he take care of your mom? Did he even go to the funeral?" She shook her head as she looked up at him with something that clearly was supposed to be pity. "He sound like he tried but, letting you stay with all your friends?"

"What are you talking about? Sounds like a dream, a couple doors down from those hunks of muscle and gorgeous bodies." This girl had on a cheer outfit with a giant bow in her hair, a v cut t shirt and short shorts. Her eyes were weird in the way that they seemed to be a bright blue, like crayon blue. Not human blue.

Mariana glared at her as she shook her head. "That's my point. He shouldn't be allowed to do this! If his father cared at all..." She gave me a surprised look as I started walking away. "What are you doing?"

I glared at her for the first time in my life. "Don't judge my dad. His life is hell, he's now married with a wife that is openly cheating on him with his half brother as well of a lot of one night stands. Piper was actually created through one of the better affairs she had where she actually can remember the guy's name. Did he really want to bring a motherless eight year old into that mess while my grandmother makes death threats at dinner seem normal. It's not like now that I'm old enough he's doing stuff for me. He didn't help me build my own motorcycle from scratch in time for school to start, oh no. He also did have some other kids that are my half siblings to watch over as well since they all live with their moms or at the camp. Oh no, he's terrible with social situations and has a sucky life. Of course that makes him the worst father in the world, I mean he can't be anything else."

"Look Leo, I'm sorry it's just that..." She was cut off by my brain tuning her out as I stormed off to cool down, literally. I could feel the hot flames begging to be released from my fingertips. My hands ached but I shoved down the pain til I was numb. I walked over to the bathroom as sweat appeared on my brow, my shoulders shaking. I could feel it coming like another army, but this one was of memories. A lot of years in the system, you come out with a lot of secrets. Secrets were something I didn't want at the moment, especially with the smell of urine burning my nose.

 **Author's Note: To Emma, thank you for being the best friend a girl could ever have. By now I hope you'll have seen that this is and was your birthday present. This is the story of Emily, the girl who lost everything only to become exactly who she wanted to be. No one else may see who the story is actually about, but this one is for you. Love you sis! - Taylor (P.S If she doesn't read this the I'm going to feel sad so she has to text me when she does, but everyone else can ignore it. If you actually did read this then I applaud you for being one of the few that I know of that do.)**


	12. Creativity Calls

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the PJO characters, only the plot of this story and Emily.**

 _Thalia's POV_

The one thing that I can't deal with is the beginning of October. Though I love Halloween, it's like the first day of October everyone starts celebrating. I can't deal with all that festivity. Everyone putting out decorations, making everything "Haunted". Even the school was getting ready for a huge Halloween bash due to a huge donation from an anonymous donor. Everything was getting decorated, it was still two weeks away! Somethings had been going wrong in our group, like someone pissed of Aphrodite. Calypso and Leo could only make polite conversation between all the stuff going on with his family, Piper and Jason keep arguing about the randomest things, Nico won't even look at Will during school anymore due to a homophobic comment that pissed off Hazel enough that she broke the kid's nose by moving a table in his way with her powers which got him mad at her too. Everything was going wrong, but at least for now everyone could still sleep in the correct rooms.

Annabeth was snuggled under Percy's arm during Human Bio third period with Ms. Reed, half listening and half concentrating on the hand that kept fiddling with her hair. This morning I had to help her pull it up into a neat bun but it kept losing strands with how much Percy was playing with it. "Seaweed Brain.." She muttered under her breath before returning her eyes to the front of the class. Just as a text dinged from her phone.

Ms. Reed looked up from her detailed drawings of what happens to your muscles when they are worked too hard or when you take steroids. Bassically all the bad stuff that can happen to them. "Chase. Can you read allowed to us the exact words that are so important that you needed to hear the news?"

I smirked at her as she pulled out her phone which, of course, was in her marauders map phone case. I watched as she went through her text before tears welled up in her eyes, a whisper of, "Bobby and Matthew are in the hospital, they got hit by a car." I bolted from my seat to hug her and glare at the teacher while Percy read through the rest of the text for her.

"They want you to visit them." Percy dropped the phone on the desk, and wiped the few tears streaming down her cheeks as she stared at her desk.

I looked up to find our teacher flabbergasted, searching for an explanation. "Her brothers got hit by a car, they're in the hospital. They're only eight years old." I stood up as I sent her the weakest imitation of my glare in her direction. "Is that important enough for her to hear right away? Or should he have waited until after class?"

Annabeth was shaky but her tears were gone. "Είμαι με κατεύθυνση προς το διαμέρισμα να αρπάξει κάτι, εγώ θα προλάβω μια βόλτα στην San Francisco. Θα είμαι πίσω από το τέλος της εβδομάδας ανάλογα με την κατάστασή τους. (I'm heading to the apartment to grab something, I would catch a ride to San Francisco. I'll be back by the end of the week depending on their condition.)" She raised her hand to sign 'I love you' to both of us, for different reasons of course. "Tell them I just had to visit home for a little bit, okay?" With that she had her stuff and left.

Before our teacher could say anything else, the bell rang demanding my presence in Cooking class. Yay me.

During the car ride back home, I had my music on as loud as possible so I could drift out of the world I was forced to be in, memories lulling me into day dreams that included watching Jason grow up instead of having to deal with his 'death'. From the pictures Reyna supplied, Jason looked a bit like our mom when he was younger. When Jupiter was there to make her an actual mom, there was this smile that she would always give me when I did something good. Jason had that same smile, his eyes even lighting up like hers. He says from what he can remember I actually act like her sometimes, which scares me a little bit. I don't want the attention. I don't want to be so dependent on someone like that, that I hurt the ones I love when they can't be around. I don't want to be the result of someone like that either.

When we finally got home I snuck away to my room with the door locked tightly, knowing full well that Emily will understand. Being alone was something you never really got to do with a lot of sisters. Or with all your friends living with you. But at the moment I needed some time to myself, some time so I could let go. I turned my music up as loud as it could go and I started to cry. Because I lost my family to many times, I never looked for Jason except for the exact moment I lost him, I left him when I did find him, the fact that this was the most I'd seen my friends except for in battle and the fact that I hadn't been to school since I was very young. Since before Luke, and actually before Jason. Because what can a mother like the one I had spend money on? Only herself and to "pay" for a "private tutor". And one of the neighbors to keep me out of the house while she and my "tutor" got to know each other.

" _I wanna go home! Why can't my mom come get me?" I knew the answer of course as I felt tears straining to appear but I was shoving them down as I tried to breathe normally. I couldn't stand my neighbors, their kids. All of them expected two sides of the spectrum when I wasn't even on it._

 _They were almost exact opposites. She had black hair with highlights of silver from stress, smile wrinkles covered up by light makeup to make her look more professional at her new manager job for the head of the technology department of Chrome, the darkest eyes I had ever seen besides Nico's. Her skin was dark like chocolate, and really soft. She was always grabbing my hands to look them over. "Your mom is just trying her best, she wants to make sure that your tutor is a good fit."_

 _Her husband huffed from his spot by the table. "No she's not, she's making sure she has more legacies to keep a man around." He had light, almost white, hair, pale green eyes with a sense of dread filling them as soon as he saw my fear. "Or you know I'm just a tired old man who really needs some coffee?" He raised his eyebrows at me with a little smirk._

 _I ran over to the coffee machine, letting sparks tingle my fingers as I restarted it. It was always going out except for for me, because I was electric. That's why the kids I knew called me sparky, why no one but Amelia East, Benjamin East and their daughter Zelda East. Because they were the closest thing I had even if they were annoying as hell most of the time._

 _I stared down at this perfect little face as I rocked my little brother to sleep. "I'll protect you with everything I have, everything I am. I will make sure no one ever hurts you." I kissed his forehead as I watched his eyes close and his light snores reached my ears. "Good night Jason."_

 _My mom walked in with a cigarette in her hand. "He's out? I'm sorry I missed him." She sighed as she turned around and left the room. She was trying to get over Jupiter but she was spiralling into oblivion, never to return again and we both knew it. She was trying to hide it but we both understood what was happening. In a little while if he stopped showing up every once in awhile then she would be gone for good this time and I was not going into foster care. Not like Zelda, not like anyone else who's lost their parents. To death or to a substance or to something else. I was not taking the chance of someone taking him and not me. I was not letting him go. I couldn't._

" _Of course I'm leaving! Did you ever think that maybe I actually cared about him? About you? But you aren't you anymore and he's gone. So no, I don't want to stay. Goodbye ms. Grace." I turned away from my mother with a backpack slung over my shoulder as I shouted, "At least my tutor can be over here as much as you want now." I grabbed my skates from their spot on the porch and bolted down the street._

 _Within two weeks I found out how to use my powers to get food with the help of Zelda who somehow got out of foster care, but she's older so it helped. She was teaching me which wires to shock so that the lights and cameras go out, shorting the security systems. She had changed so much since I last saw her, she had turned into the opposite of herself except for her motherly traits. She still was stubborn, easy to get angry. But she was calculating now, tougher. She was meaner to strangers, quicker to violence. So when we were reaping the rewards of our heist, I wasn't surprised when she suddenly told me she was leaving. She needed to meet up with someone and I was on my own. "You can't take a kid with you, no matter who they are. You're really young Thalia. See yeah when you can keep up." And then she was gone. And I was alone._

I opened my eyes to find I was curled up in one of our chairs crying my eyes out as I tried not to fall out of the chair from how badly I was shaking. I crawled off the chair and into my bed as I tried to calm myself down. I shut off my music as I tried to find the locket, the one that I got from the police when they told me about my mom. For a split second I was terrified before I noticed it dangling from my neck like it usually is. "I'm sorry mom."

The girl in my reflection was not who everyone else saw me as. This girl had short black hair, bags under her eyes, no makeup, tears streaks from crying and most importantly...this girl wasn't strong. She wasn't a fighter. She was just surviving as best she could, but now she doesn't have a reason to survive, she has a chance to live. But she doesn't know how. That's what I saw when I looked in the mirror. That's what I knew I was. Who better to know yourself then the one who sees how you act when you're alone?

 _Rachel's POV_

I could feel her walking around the room behind me put I knew she would talk to me if she needed to. I focused on my homework for class as I tried my hardest to figure out a way to solve one of the math problems. If the shadow of a building increases by 10 meters when the angle of elevation of the sun rays decreases from 70o to 60o, what is the height of the building? I don't know this! Homework was never this hard when I had a private tutor. Or you know, Reyna wasn't mad at me. Or was I mad at her? I couldn't remember so I kept to myself for a little bit before finally I couldn't stand the silence. "Reyna?" I watched as she turned to me and I realized I was the one mad at her because she looked surprised. "I'm sorry for being mad, I can't even remember why I was. It was probably something stupid and considering how much trouble I would be in with Lady Aphrodite if I hurt our relationship, plus your mom for sure..."

Reyna ran over to plop herself down on my lap as she tangled her fingers in my hair. "I can't remember either. And you should be more scared of Piper since right now I'm pretty sure she'd rip our heads off." She suddenly got the mischievous smirk only I got to see as she called something out in Latin, telling her dogs to leave the room. She walked out with them before locking the door behind her. "You know it was hard to handle you being mad at me, I've never had experience to help me handle it." She was right in front of me now, her breath tainting my lips. "I want to hear you beg for mercy."

I raised my eyebrows as I tilted my head to the side giving her open access to my neck. "Bring it." And that's how an hour later I was icing my wrist in freezing water because somehow it hurt more then my neck or my butt. I had fallen off my chair and slammed my wrist into the bed post, or the bottom part of it anyway. "I hate you sometimes, you know that right?"

Reyna kissed my forehead as she massaged her hand. "I know. But that's what happens in relationships right? We hate each other a little sometimes. Maybe not hate, just get really mad or disappointed. But this is neither. You're just embarrassed."

I pouted before ducking away from her kisses, laughing as she suddenly glared at me. "Fine, I will admit it too. Especially that excuse you made up for everyone else! Oh my god Reyna!" I shook my head at her before standing to stretch. I yelped when I felt a cold finger poke my belly.

Reyna started giggling before she saw that Travis had walked in. "Um...I'm going to our room. Call me when dinner's ready?" She left without another word.

"I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?" Travis scratched the back of his neck and looked up slightly in that way that made most girls hyperventilate. But as you know I was not one of them. He straightened when he say the look on my face and turned a dark shade of red. "Anyway, I actually wanted to know if you guys were planning on going to the halloween party the school is throwing. Katie and I were, even though it says mandatory costumes for some reason. If you guys were then I was wondering if you guys wanted to help us since I know you're the artist and Reyna is the most organized person I know."

I could see the underlying hint of missing Annabeth but at the moment I was too excited to care. "Oh my gods! Yes! Get Hazel and Drew for me, will you? I need my sketch pad. Oh, and while you're getting her can you inform everyone that if they don't go to this halloween party then I'm kicking their demigod asses? Thank you!" I quickly decided that if we all went as ancient romans and greeks, it would be too obvious.

Drew stalked in with Hazel behind her, both blazing power. They clearly were training on the roof when Travis interrupted. "You called?"

"Hazel can you help me with these sketches? Thanks. Anyway, Drew I want you to help keep this realistic and give input on what you think would be best for each person. We're designing and making costumes for the halloween party and we are going to be the best ones there." I was smiling so much I was scared my cheeks would start hurting. "Do you want to start on yours so we can get it out of the way?"

Hazel nodded as Drew started circling her. "I have a really brilliant idea. Do you have any old dresses from when you were younger? Like from the 1940's?" She smiled brightly as Hazel looked up at her in confusion.

"I think I have one or two...Why?" Realization flashed through her eyes as quickly as she dashed out of the room only to return with a dress that looked fitting for a girl a few years younger than her but still very mature. Just slightly small. "Will this do? It was my favorite!" The dress in her arms had a light pink background color with flower baskets holding purple flowers laid down inside as a sort of scattered pattern. The actual dress had a fitted waist and a flowing skirt that would reach about mid calf, two straps that would go on her shoulders as well as a frills that went around the top of her dress and created another two sleeves.

Drew sequeled happily before dragging us all to her room, effectively kicking out her roommate. She scavenged through all of her shoes before she pulled out a pair of black closed toe heels, only one or two inches tall, with little black bows on the tips. "Will this work?"

Hazel stared at them before silent tears started streaming down her cheeks. "Thank you." Her voice came out in a whisper before she looked at her dress. "But it's too small for me now. And there isn't any more of that fabric left that I know of, the company closed when the CEO retired."

Drew snorted before blushing slightly, busying herself with looking Hazel over. "I think I can fix that." She started concentrating wit her hands on the fabric. "Please mother.." And then with a tint of hot pink, the dress grew bigger, to maybe my size. But Hazel was a bit more petite than that. "Can you try it on so that I can make it your size? It's easier to work with too much than too little."

Hazel promptly grabbed the dress and walked into the closet to change. She was still not used to changing around other people, she changed in the bathroom at school. She walked out quickly holding the dress up so it was at the appropriate height on her.

Drew immediately fixed the length of the straps, the size of the frills and the skirt. "I want to know how tight you want the waist to be. I know you're on the smaller side but I don't want to suffocate you."

I was quickly sketching out what Hazel looked like **(Outfits are on Polyvore:** **?filter=sets** **)** , makeup included so whoever did it would have something to go on, when I got to her hair. I tried to picture what we could do when I got a brilliant idea. I ran out of the room to find Piper.

"Okay. We have Hazel, Katie, Calypso, Thalia, Drew, Annabeth and Reyna so far we're missing all the boys but Piper is working on their outfits. For the girls we need Emily, Piper, Clarisse, Lou Ellen, Nyssa and mine. Any ideas?" I stared at the outlines I had for all the girls as I tried to picture what they would be. Then I got a really good idea. "Clarisse is the Drakon slayer right? So let's make her one. Just a more feminine and one with easily reusable clothing. What do you guys think?"

Drew's eyes lit up. "Why don't we make Lou Ellen a witch? But like one from a tv show, so she'd be wearing an "I'm a witch shirt" and a witches hat. But those would be your only hint."

"That is so Lou it hurts guys!" Piper grinned as she finished writing down ideas for the boys. "I'm going to steal Hazel for a second...I need her help doing Superman's. By guys!"

As soon as the door shut the idea came to us at the same time. "Superman!" I quickly went to work sketching everything out as we all giggled to ourselves over how they'd probably be matching. "Guys, what about Nyssa and mine?"

Drew shrugged before her head popped back up again. "Steampunk! Oh gods if we are doing all of these super cliche costumes, at least for us, then it would totally fit her!" And then the most terrifying thing happened. "You know I have a brilliant idea for you. But if I'm allowed to do it has to remain a secret until I finish. Can I?"

Aphrodite girls have two sides to their emotional spectrum. Aww girls that love seeing cute couples and then genious conniving ones who you have to trust but you don't want to. I had a tough choice to make.

Finally the day arrived when the halloween dance was going to occur. And things at the demigod household were crazy. For one no one would talk to each other and people had temporarily switched room assignments. Well, not Percy and Annabeth or Leo and Calypso. But everyone else was pissed at eachother from stress added on to the people that hated us at school.

So of course as soon as dinner started someone had to mutter something about the dance since it was in two hours. "So if we're here I assume we're not going, right? I mean, we have no time to get ready." Nico was glaring us down but I had been dealing with a very stressed girlfriend, a tired Annabeth, fighting cousins and making their costumes.

Now as everyone knows I am a happy person without a mean bone in my body. Well, I was a female. I could be deadly if pissed off. They just had never seen it before. "You know that's hilarious considering you think after almost a month's work we're letting you guys not go." I stood up and looked him dead in the eyes. "You are going." I started looking at everyone in turn as I let my tone get worse and worse. "You are all going, you are going to be nice to each other and enjoy yourselves or so help me your parents are going to fear me so much even Hera will shit her pants every time I walk by. You hear me? I know all of you are pissed off at each other, I know all of you are stressed and I know you guys think you can mope around but this is one thing we are going to do and you are not going to complain for one second. Oh, and whoever helps with your makeup you aren't going to complain about and you aren't going to mess up anyone else's even if you are the one doing it. If anyone has any complaints you can knock on my door since that's where I'll be eating since I don't want to be around a bunch of childish ass holes." I grabbed my plate and left.

Of course as soon as I sat down there was a knock on my door. I stormed over only to find Reyna crying. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, I should have kept them under control, I'm a leader. I should know how to do this.." And in the two seconds it took for me to register that Reyna, **MY** Reyna was crying...My heart broke.

I pulled her into the room and shut the door so no one would see her. "Hey, it's okay. It's not your fault, we all have our breaking points." I forced her to look at me as I kissed both her cheeks. "I love you, okay? And when you love someone you don't let them blame themselves for something that is not their fault. Have you noticed that only you guys have been targeted? How I am only stressed out by you guys? It's not your fault, it's not any of your faults. But I need you guys to not let them. Because you guys are a unit. And when people target the whole thing instead of little by little, everyone has the chance to fight back. So get them to fight back. You fight back too."

Reyna brushed away her tears and kissed me. "I love you too."

 **Author's Note: Thank you guys for all the reviews! It's amazing to know you guys like my story! And I promise I will try harder to update more frequently.**


	13. Final Halloween Batlle

**_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the PJO or HOO characters. I simply own a few OCs and the plot line. Yeah. And my sucky excuse for not updating in a while is that I have midterms coming up and I haven't had time. Sorry it's so short, will hopefully put up a better chapter Thirteen later._**

 _Emily's POV_

I worked my magic on everyone's faces after everyone had gotten their costumes on since I was the impartial party since I knew none of them so they didn't get mad at me. I silently got into my costume, a ninja costume that covered my face as I hated it when people stared. Some of them new me. But the mist took care of that before they could place me. Since I required no makeup I was the last to get into costume, so when I walked out everyone was in small groups with whoever they weren't mad at. I almost felt a flash of deja vu but I quickly erased the memories. I didn't want them. "Everyone ready to go? Good. Because Rachel and I have something to say."

Realization flashed across her eyes as she glanced at Reyna. She walked over to Emily before whispering a quick question. "Them being targeted?"

"Yes. I know how." I whispered back before crossing my arms and glaring at them. "Now. As all of you have noticed, y'all are very stressed. And now you are stressing me and Rachel out." I could see Annabeth's eyes widening slightly as she she glanced at everyone she was arguing with. "Which means y'all are being targeted."

Rachel nodded. "Do you guys know how many people at that school hate us? Do you know how easy it would be for someone to influence them to start sabotaging projects, messing with our friends or anything else that has us all cranky? We've seen it before, and we're seeing it again. We've go a monster on our hands and we don't even know who it is."

"I know this isn't going to immediately fix everything, but now you know what to watch out for so you can stop it, fix it or whatever. I expect that by the end of December you all will be back. I'm not saying this hopefully, I'm saying this as I'm going to kick your sorry asses if you aren't."

That was a great pep talk before the party. As soon as we all stepped out of our cars the air seemed slightly lighter, but it was still very tense between everyone. I walked with my head held high as Thalia walked next to me. We all walked in to find people in a variety of costumes, none matching the detail and realisticness of ours. With the boys all decked out in things matching their personalities, Leo as the human torch, Jason as Superman (complaining about the tightness of the costume), Travis, Cecil and Connor as bandits, Frank as an archer (he refused to be any type of animal), Will as a doctor and Nico as the angel of death. Just to give you an example. Our costumes were the center of attention as we passed our classmates and spread out to have fun.

While chatting quietly with Thalia, a girl came over looking a little tipsy. "Wanna dance? I promise I only had one shot of punch before coming over here for confidence. Which as you can tell is something I usually don't do." She giggle and swayed slightly.

Before my dear friend could say no I smiled at her and nodded. "Thalia would love to dance. Right? I mean we are here to have fun after all. Just no slow dances, okay? She hates mushy stuff."

The girl's eyes lit up and she nodded profusely. "Glad someone agrees. I suggested some rock songs and finally they're playing them! They don't seem to play the punk stuff I ask for so might as well dance to this!" With that the girl dragged a slightly less nervous and slightly less deadly looking Thalia onto the dance floor.

To be fair, I wasn't spared either. Somehow Lou Ellen got me in the middle of the dance floor as everyone partied away. I sighed as I started dancing with everyone else. It was an awesome twenty minutes before everything went wrong.

Thalia was the first target. She stepped right into a trap that left her dangling from the ceiling as the rope started fraying. She was sheet white and unable to move. We couldn't get her, she was twenty feet in the air. When her brother tried to save her,he ended up cemented to the floor. Nico was forced back into a simple corner of the room, surrounded by dancing shadows as they laughed. In the confusion, I noticed someone turn on a projector. I knew who I was looking at the minute I saw him. It was an image of Reyna's father. I was trying my best to get past the students as snakes slithered across the floor, spiders dangled from the ceiling and an assortment of people were shown their worst fears. The lights turned on as images of tartarus started appearing on the walls. I found Percy being held down in the vat of pudding, Annabeth trying so hard to help as she cried from the merciless panic attack clearly swelling in her. I saw Connor alone and trapped, Katie bleeding on the floor and Hazel. She was faced with the most terrifying thing of all. She was disappearing. She was being called back. Frank was trying to get to her but he was battling beast after beast. Evil after evil. And he was going to lose. Leo was covered in flames, Calypso was bound in chains as she was being dragged away. All of my friends were in danger. I tried as hard as I could to save Percy from drowning but I could see his body going limp. I was hitting and screaming as I begged for help.

I turned to see the one person I never wanted to see again walking towards me, still covered in their blood. "No." I watched as she walked over and whispered in my ear, "You chose your own sister over her boyfriend, and she chose him over you. So I made sure you both got what you wanted. Do you love me now?"

Then everything went dark.

 _Hades's POV_

As I watched helplessly, my children, my nephews, my niece, the loves of their lives were being thoroughly destroyed. I could feel Percy's life source fading from suffocation. I could feel the fear destroying their hearts. And I couldn't help them. Not even the gods are allowed at that school now that the protection is over it. So I did the best thing I could do. I sent the two monsters in the world that could break through that barrier. I sent Tyson and Ella. I watched as they tried to save the only demigods I didn't hate that much.

Tyson plowed through the rest of the students as he got Percy out of the vat just in time. He ran over to the projectors and smashed them to pieces as Ella got Thalia safely down before putting out Leo's fire. He freed everyone he could from the physically damaging positions, but it was no use trying to save them from the results of their fear. Chris was still running around calling for a girl named Mary and Clarisse was crying as she begged him to look at her. Katie needed medical attention, Nico was curled up in a ball shaking horribly when they found him and Annabeth. It took thirty minutes for the panic attack to stop, leaving her broken in Percy's arms. Suddenly the only sign that was left of what had just transpired was a message written on the wall in Katie's blood. "

 _If you demigods believe you get defeat the earth mothers might,_

 _you are in for a terrifying fright._

 _Another mother is here,_

 _an army all on her own._

 _If you stay she will be back,_

 _it's not just your worst fears that can be shown._

Then my view of what was happening was gone. And I was left alone in my palace, forced to remain silent.


	14. Deleted Scenes

Hello everyone! I hope you had a lovely Christmas. For one, I apologize for not updating. I've been sick. Like coughing until I get dizzy sick, for over a week. Two, I'm sorry this isn't a chapter. But...It is a hint into the next one. A clue to end all clues...sort of. I give you... **DELETED SCENES FROM THE LAST CHAPTER!**

Unknown POV

"Mother, why let them go? That was so much fun, I haven't seen that much chaos in centuries. Except for wars but some of them are just plain drama filled ans boring. No terror or bloodshed." The voice was whiny and tired but held the tone of innocence of a child. It was hard to tell if it was female or male, or even something else.

"Child, you don't see the greater picture. We can not defeat that many demigods at once, it's impossible. We must get them away from us so our plan can come into effect. But of course toying with them is fun. Why don't we start with the leaders? After all..." A feminine figure in a teachers attire stepped closer to the only other living thing in the room. "We have so much material to use from our time spent with them in Tartarus..."

 _ **End of deleted scenes...**_

 _ **Story to be continued...**_


	15. The Fun Begins

_Percy's POV_

It was hard to keep still after the party, everyone was too nervous to go to sleep. But of course, Annabeth laid down the law. I don't know if anyone actually went to sleep or if they just stayed in their rooms and recuperated. Us? We tried to sleep. That night I had horrible nightmares, Misery forming into Annabeth just as I forced her own poison upon her. I had to watch her die because I couldn't stop myself from killing Misery. I jolted awake just as she woke up too, her cheeks stained with tears. "Annabeth..." I pulled her as close to me as possible as I pressed kisses to her face. "Do you want to swap stories or just make out until we fall asleep?" I joked, trying to lighten the mood. But then I saw her expression. I rested my forehead against hers, our legs tangled together under the sheets and hands woven together. "Okay. What happened?"

Annabeth signed, her morning breath washing over me like something out of a chum bucket but not quite as bad. She rolled her eyes when I made a face, but the tiniest smile appeared as well. Until she started talking. "I was remembering how you went to Calypso's island. How quickly she fell in love with you, I know she was cursed but still. It's just that what if Aphrodite gets mad at us or she isn't done with testing our relationship? What if I'm not who you end up with?" She looked at me with such hurt in her eyes like she could see all of this happening right in front of her.

"Aphrodite saw us go through literal demigod hell for each other, she better know by now that there is nothing she can do to tear us apart." I moved so I was leaning on my elbow looking down at her. I never got tired of looking at her grey eyes and remembering the first day I saw her. She didn't look like a princess anymore, she looked like a queen. She wasn't so desperate to belong or do something because already had done enough and more, she radiated confidence. She had even gotten just a little taller. I still towered over her of course, but I had to tilt my head up a little to put my chin on her head.

Annabeth seemed to be thinking of something else she could throw at me. "You were the one that went into tartarus for me. What if I have to prove I am worth doing that for?" With that she simply rolled over so her back was facing me. "I know what you're going to say but you can't fix everything Percy. It isn't humanly or godly possible. So stop trying. Night seaweed brain. I love you."

I curled myself around her as I pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. "I love you too, Wise Girl. But you know I'm never giving up." With that I pulled her close to me and fell asleep with the scent of lemon shampoo surrounding me,

Of course we needed a relaxation day. But no, the two lead girls of the group had a better idea. "Who has homework? You finish it now, Then, we get to do something fun tomorrow." She rolled her eyes at all the groans and sighed. "I'll help. Reyna, can you get whoever is already done training on the roof?"

I watched as everyone gathered up all their stuff before giving Annabeth a quick peck. "I have to go, I'll be back after my shift with tons of cute pictures of the animals." I gestured for the guys to come with me because I knew they had jobs to get to as well. I watched as Cecil, Chris and Connor said goodbye before heading to the cars. Since Cecil and I had the same shift but the others had to stay a little longer due to training, we were taking two cars. And I didn't trust three Hermes kids in the same car, even though two I was still a little iffy on.

So when Katie ran over to me and said, "I have a job interview down the street from the mall, do you guys mind if I get a ride? I'll go with Stoll!" She knew the answer before I even could breathe so she ran over to them before the elevator could close. "Coming Percy?"

I laughed as I said goodbye to everyone and ran to catch the door before it could was a quick ride to the mall as Cecil asked for advice on how he was going to deal with some of people that thought they were better then him with this stuff. "Dude, you are going to be fine. Just remember that Lou Ellen is still allowed to use her magic, and she might have hinted that she would come and visit so she could bring you lunch. That girl won't even step foot any where near the mall food court."

Cecil chuckled as he nodded and fiddled with the golden chain with a Hermes symbol that Lou had given him a while ago. "You know when she turned all those guys into pigs and she didn't want to reverse it, she started freaking out a little. Said she was acting too much like Circe, so she gave me this. Said it protected me from attack magic. So of course when two weeks later she got pissed at me, tried to turn me green it backfired and ended up hitting her hair."

I grinned as we pulled into the parking lot of the mall and turned off the car. "I remember that. She made sure you hung by your feet for a few hours for her to use as a hand to hand combat dummy. Course she healed you after, but I think everyone learned the wrath of Lou is terrifying." We joked back and forth til we got to the pet store, giving each other smirks as I heard one of my coworkers call for help. I walked in to find one of the puppies had escaped and was trying to tear apart some of the toys. I sat down in front of the door and whistled. As soon as the puppy saw me it ran over and started liking my face. "Hey.." I saw the name tag hanging from a yellow collar. "Rosie. You making a mess?" I lifted the little doberman to my face as I raised an eyebrow. I laughed as she stuck out her tongue to lick me as I stood up to face two flustered employees. "Hi, I'm Percy." I set her back in her cage.

The girl stepped forward first and stuck out her hand to shake. "Amoly, freshman in college and gay. This is my twin brother." As we shook hands she sighed as she noticed my very confused look and sighed. "Whenever a guy comes in here to work, they act all flirty and it gets really annoying. So I usually introduce myself like that." She was pretty. Dark hair that faded to blonde, darker skin and brown eyes.. She was shorter but her sass made up for it.

"Don't worry. I'm not like that." I turned to her brother and shook his hand too. "Now. Is there anything special I'm supposed to wear? Looks like you guys are wearing stuff..." I scratched the back of my neck as her brother tossed me an apron thing to tie around my waist. Her brother, Anthony, showed me how to work the register so people could buy pets or adopt the ones we had from one of the humane societies and animal shelters in the area. Pets cost way more than I originally thought, adopting was like 60 - 100 dollars and non adoptions cost way more. I seriously thought you could just, adopt. Anyway, I got to know the two of them as the shift went on and I found that they were really awesome people. They were kind of nervous when I asked about the scarf Amoly wore because it looked really cool.

"My mother made it for me, it's something of a tradition in our family. Mom makes a scarf for all her daughters so she always has a reminder of her." She played with it before shrugging. "Anyway um..." Then she looked at my arm. Of course I had forgotten to wear long sleeves so my tattoo was partially showing underneath. "Is that a tattoo?"

I tugged on my sleeve and slowly nodded my head. "Um...yeah. It's a kind of, camp thing." From their expressions I quickly came up with an excuse. "It's a camp for people with Roman ancestry like families that still believe in the roman gods and all that. I'm greek but some of my cousins their families are more roman though they have the same beliefs so when I went to visit them I stayed at the camp for a while got the tattoo. Most of the people that get it are about sixteen already so there's no kids under that running around with this kind of tattoo."

Except for a few confused looks and a whatever there were no more questions about it. When Anthony noticed me taking a few pictures of all the animals, the fish, etc... "Whatcha doing Percy?" When he looked at the pictures he nodded in respect before raising an eyebrow. "Why are you taking pictures?"

"I promised my girlfriend I'd take a few pictures, she loves animals but she's busy at the moment." Before he could even ask I scrolled to a picture of us in Paris. "Her name's Annabeth, genius if I ever met one. She's corrected our teachers more times then I can count." I smiled faintly before putting my phone away, I was at work after all. "That's why your sister doesn't have to worry about me."

Anthony nodded with a smile and clapped me on the back. "Good for you man." We talked as we started cleaning out the empty cages, not as bad as the stables I've had to deal with in the past. We both agreed on that, him having experience helping on a friends farm. By the time we were done, Cecil walked in looking for me.

I glanced up from my spot on the floor as I feed the rodents and grinned at him. "Hey Cecil. Our shifts over already?" I finished up before using the hand sanitizer by the food bins to wash off my hands and glance at the clock. "Oh yeah. I didn't even go for lunch, Annabeth is going to kill me."

Cecil shook his head before holding up a sandwich wrapped in tinfoil. "Lou thought you'd forget, also thought your co workers could use a snack." He tossed Anthony one and Amoly too. He smirked at their surprised expressions as they looked at the ingredients written on her sticky note. "She get it right?"

Amoly nodded before looking up at him with a smile. "Tell her I said thank you, she got all my favorites. What is she, a wizard?" She gave us confused looks as we laughed but shrugged it off as an inside joke. "Bye Percy, we have to wait till the others show up which should be in about ten minutes. That's when our shifts end."

After saying our goodbyes, I let Cecil drive us home. He had turned sixteen before school started so he was allowed to drive. Just not with me in the car, but that didn't matter to me as long as Annabeth didn't find out. I quickly finished off the sandwich before we reached the hotel, hurrying up to our room. As soon as I entered, I shouted, "Wise Girl, I'm home!"

Hazel bolted out of the library and leaped into my arms for a hug. "Percy! Save me from homework! It's hurting me, I have a huge headache. Why do numbers go in equations and why do I have to learn about stuff I already know about?" She had koala bear hugged me which worked really well since she was extremely tiny but strong.

Without question I carried her like that over to the library and raised an eyebrow at the study group going on. "Okay, who did this?" I looked around til I found a very sheepish looking Katie who was holding a math binder in her arms. "Okay. When it comes to Nico, you get Will. When it comes to Hazel you get Annabeth. If Annabeth can help me, she can help Hazel no problem."

Hazel twitched in my arms before finally releasing me. "I know that wasn't an insult to my intelligence but it definitely feels like it." She turned her back on me with her arms crossed. Without even looking I could tell her was pouting, it was a family thing.

I immediately picked her up upside down and made sure she wasn't in danger of dropping on her head. I started carrying her around to her laughing protests as I went to look for Nico or Frank. I suddenly realized they might be training on the roof so I carried her up there. What I found was everyone dueling while Clarisse looked on.

As soon as she saw where were were she tried wriggling free again, while also holding her shirt over her stomach. "Help! Percy has me!" That got everyone's attention as they turned to get a look at what she was talking about.

Frank started laughing as he walked over. "Percy, put her down. But Nico get a picture first." Nico snapped a quick picture with his phone so that Frank could scoop her up bridal style so it would be easier to let her down.

Hazel was glaring at the three of us before she got an evil look on her face. "This means war boys. I get Jason and Annabeth. Will is ref. Enjoy your dinner..." She then disappeared back into the building, leaving the three of us dreading our decisions to tease her.

 _Annabeth's POV_

It had been two full days since the dance. But I was still completely terrified of stepping into that building again after what happened. I just knew something would go wrong, it was like my mom was sending me a warning. But of course it could just be me being nervous to go back...

It was an Orange day which meant I had some of my favorite classes. Greek, Chem, Human Bio, etcetera. I could do this, these classes made sense to me. I walked over to my locker so I could get the binders I needed, only to find a girl staring me down from my left. "Can I help you?"

The girl looked like one of Rosie's goons. She was in her cheerleader shirt, short shorts and a large bow with our team colors on it. She was around my height with slightly pale skin and green eyes. Her She was taking me in before choosing her words. "Yes, actually. I wanted to know what you were doing with Percy. I mean, I know you're smart. I know you guys are close. I just want to know why you're here."

I raised an eyebrow at her before shutting my locker door. "Excuse me? Is there a reason I need to answer to you?" I caught myself before I could say anything else. "I'm his girlfriend, his best friend. I'm here because I switched schools and I live close to here. Does that answer your question?" I turned around to run straight smack into someone. Someone familiar. I pulled away to find myself looking up into Percy's eyes. "Hi Seaweed Brain, ready for class?"

Percy's eyes lit up as he pressed a kiss to my forehead. "Of course! This is one of the only classes I have that I actually like!" He put his chin on my head, suddenly noticing the girl behind me. "Hey Amanda! I guess you two have met?" He pulled away to look at me and saw the annoyance in my eyes. "Amanda, what did you do? Did you pull out 'the questions?'"

I turned to look at the girl as she blushed. "You know me, Perce. Anyway, I had to check out the new meat myself. I mean, I know you've been dating a little while but still." She shrugged as she tucked some loose strands behind her ears.

"Amanda, meet Annabeth. One of my two best friends since I was twelve, dating for a year or two. Annabeth, this is Amanda. Friend of Rachel's before she got transferred and stayed friends with me. So she is one of my Goode friends." Percy didn't release his arms from my waist, even as we shook hands. "I'll see you and the guys around, but we have to get to class." He waved goodbye as we headed to class. I could feel his grip on my waist tightened as we passed a group of guys who ignored us.

As soon as I stepped into our class I knew we were screwed. For one, the topic of today was tartarus. Two, I was sitting next to Rosie and a guy that looked like he belonged with the ones Percy was worried about. Three, I recognized the teacher. Conrad Andrews. Complete pain in the ass, hates my dad and was one of the worst teachers to have in a crisis. Lucky me.

"Annabeth Chase. I'm sorry to hear about your brothers, your father should have taught them better then to allow them to run into the road like that. I'm glad to hear they are healing well. Now take your seat." He was a short, thin wisp of a man with thinning hair and a flattish nose. His eyes were always squinting like the sun hurt, though they were a light blue.

I gritted my teeth as I took my spot between the two. On my left was the girl. She had short red hair, brown eyes with flecks of blue and very tan skin. She was on the shorter side which probably meant she was on the top of the cheer leading pyramid, but her attitude towards me made up for it. She was clearly going to ignore me due to my friendship with Leo. She was popping gum like she was Violet Beauregarde. It was extremely annoying.

The boy to my right was tall, well built and not in the mood to even take out his headphones. He was wearing an over-sized camo sweatshirt, baggy jeans that probably didn't cover his ass and mud boots. His light hair curled around his baseball cap and his eyes were too focused on his table for me to see them clearly. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye before going back to his staring. Surprisingly, they were a really nice green.

Percy was situated behind me so of course he started playing with my hair across the table, pulling it into a long braid. He was really good with this kind of stuff, due to him being an expert on ropes and stuff. Plus I always let him do this because it felt really nice to have him play with it. He whispered some stuff in Greek about how much he loves me and that he's sorry about my family. Bobby had a broken arm and both of his legs broken. Matthew on the other hand had some nerve damage to his back as well as a few broken ribs. The damage wasn't as bad as it could have been because the car was going slower due to it being a neighborhood road.

When the final bell rang Mr. Andrews stood in front of the class with a proud expression. "I was given permission by the school board to teach you about this specific subject within Greek Mythology. We are going to start from the darkest depths of earth and go up from there. So, we are learning about..." He wrote out **TARTARUS** on the board. "Tartarus. This is where the worst of the Greek monsters come from, where in fact the titans are imprisoned and the cyclopes were at one point. It is a dark abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the most evil of them all. This is where all monsters are reborn after they are killed by heroes. The entire thing is one, living being. The actual deity Tartarus never appears but it is known that he always knows who, what and where you are when you are in his domain. Because you are walking on his very being. There are many rivers that run through Tartarus. One being the river of fire. It heals wounds, keeps monsters alive. Only to be tormented some more."

I could see flashes of the ares now. I could feel the cold of my hands as the heat shorted out my nerves. I could taste it on my tongue as it rolled down my throat. I could see Percy worrying, to put it mildly, about my hands as I plunged them into the flames. Then I was back in the classroom. I glanced back at Percy to see him nod at me. He too had gone through it again in his head. I tried to steel myself for what was coming.

"This river is the Phlegethon." Mr. Andrews wrote it out in smaller letters next to Tartarus. "There are five rivers of course, this being one of them. The next is the river Cocytus. It is also known as the river of sadness as it holds the souls of the damned and drowns the victims in sadness as they whisper things in your ear so you'll join them." He wrote it out as my vision blurred for a moment.

I could feel the freezing cold water encase me, the tugging of my clothes. I could just stay there forever, there was no purpose anymore. No one escapes here, so why even try? But then I felt a sharp tug on my arm from Percy, snapping me out of it and back to the class. I turned to find him giving me a worried look. "Είμαι εντάξει. Μπορούμε να αφήσουμε εάν παίρνει πάρα πολύ κακό."

He nodded as our teacher set us a 'No Talking' look. "Next we have the river Lethe. It wipes the memories of average soul that neither deserve nor need to be punished for them. This river is also found in the underworld which is where souls that aren't horrible enough to go to tartarus are."

I could feel Percy tense behind me as he started muttering in greek. Muttering about how we had to leave Bob behind, how he sacrificed himself for us even though he remembered who he was. How Percy had wiped his memory. I turned around as I forced down tears and grabbed his hand to shake him out of it. I could feel all of our friends in the class staring at us in worry. Luckily I had Thalia. All of the seniors in our friend group were here.

Ignoring the tension between his students, Mr. Andrews continued. "The river is sacred to both man and god. Any oath made upon this river is to be fulfilled or a fate worse than death comes to the one who made it. It circles the underworld nine times before going into Tartarus to join the others. Any hero who bathes in this river and lives will be immune to most physical attacks except for one spot. Has anyone heard of Achilles? His spot was his heel, which is why when an arrow struck it, it killed him."

I flashed back to watching Luke die before my eyes, knowing it had to be him or Kronos would live. I was pulled back quickly by hearing Percy behind me. I turned to find him paler than he should be, his eyes distant and my name slipping through his lips. I bolted from my seat and hugged him. "Percy, wake up. I'm right here, it's over. Percy, look at me." I pulled away and forced his eyes, no matter how distant to catch mine. "Percy."

He shook his head before resting his forehead on mine. "We need to leave. It's getting harder for me to wake up...I keep seeing it over and over again. I saw you getting stabbed to protect me, I saw him dying..." His voice was barely a whisper but the whole class was silent.

Thalia keeled on his other side and whispered, "It's all over, Percy. He's with everyone else..." She looked around to find Clarisse nodding along with her. "Silena, Charlie. All of them." She hugged him quickly before standing up with her arms crossed. "Can they be excused please? This class is acting as a trigger for them."

Mr. Andrews rolled his eyes at her and pointed to her seat. "There is nothing you could have gone through that was that horrible. Mostly war vets have this kind of thing. Go sit down and deal with having to be in the class till it ends." He watched us all move back to our seats, shaky as we were. Even I did as asked. "Now. The final river, so named 'The river of Pain'." He started writing on the board as he talked. "The river Acheron." He turns to his class at last, not noticing both Percy and I tense. "It's the worst of them all. It is where the worst of the worst souls are sent, mostly murders. They say the roaring current is actually all of the voices crying out in pain, for mercy. It shows those close to it their worst memories, trying to get them to jump into it so they can be punished as well."

And I was gone. I wasn't just feeling everything or remembering it, I was back. I could hear howling of monsters as images flashed before my eyes of all of the monsters I'd killed. Of all of the creatures I had sent here. Then I saw everyone that had died for me or because of me. I saw the faces of campers that had died in battle, the faces of people that never returned from quests. I saw Zoe, Bianca, Silena, Michael, Ethan. I saw Luke and his blue eyes. The ones I hadn't seen in years, the ones I couldn't save. The ones I let turn to gold.


	16. The Aftermath

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO, only the plot of this story and all characters not made up by Rick Riordan. I love all of the reviews, follows and favorites! I know I've gotten mostly good reviews, but constructive criticism is welcome! I want to improve my writing! Though knowing you guys like it is also good. Anyway, have a good day!**

 _Thalia's POV_

I could feel the electricity building in the air around me as my anger grew, making both my and the four people around me's hair stand on end. I knew I needed to calm down and get someone to help but I didn't care at the moment. This teacher had brought on full on blackouts for both Percy and Annabeth. "We told you to let them leave."

I could see Clarisse bolting from the room to get Hazel since she had had blackouts before just not exactly like this and of course Jason because he could both calm me down without getting hurt and he was one of the stronger ones. She should probably get Frank too.

I could sense the fear in the room. I glared daggers at our teacher as I spoke quietly to my friends. "You can't wake them up, I don't think. Just wait for it to be over with and try to stop them from hurting themselves." I stalked forward as I tried to calm my breathing. "You need to understand that my friends and I have gone through a lot. For example, I was put in a coma for almost seven years. So next time one of us asks to leave, it means that either the content or something else has set one of us off. Is that so hard to understand?"

Jason took that second to run into the room and get between us. "Thalia. look at me." He stared me down as he blocked my view of the teacher. "Thalia you need to calm down. You can't help them if you keep sparking." I glared through him but he didn't even flinch. "Sis, please."

I growled one last time at the teacher before turning to Annabeth. She was completely curled up into herself mutter apologizes. I heard names I hadn't heard in years. I felt my breath catch as I realized what was happening. "She's reliving it in her head."

Just as Hazel ran in Annabeth glanced up. "Bianca?" Hazel turned pale, paler than I'd ever seen her. "I'm sorry. I know Nico blamed Percy but I know it was my fault. I'm really sorry..." She started crying silently before putting her head back down. "It was my fault you got killed..."

Hazel just walked over to her and hugged her tightly. "Annabeth, it wasn't your fault. Annabeth, it couldn't have been your fault. For goodness sakes you were kidnapped!" She fixed Annabeth's hair as she tried to calm her down.

I went over to Percy who was struggling in Frank's arms as he tried to do something that would probably get him hurt. "What did you do when this happened to Hazel?" When I looked at frank all I saw was fear. "Great. I have an idea!" I rubbed my hands together and shocked one of his pressure points. It made him pass out immediately. "Perfect. Now to get to Annabeth."

I could see my friends trying to get people to leave but they were either too shocked, wanted to help or were trying to video it. Nyssa suddenly grabbed someone's iphone and ripped it in half. She then snapped her fingers and every electrical device in the room shut off except for the lights. "I suggest all of you leave and stop pissing me off. Otherwise, none of you will have phones."

Annabeth saw Jason hug me as he tried to stop me from freaking out. "Luke?" The expression on her face broke my heart. "I'm sorry I didn't stop you, I know I could have. I should have gone with you when you asked. I should have gone with you, maybe it would have stopped you from doing it. I could have saved you, and I didn't. I'm sorry..."

I hugged her as tightly as possible as I pleaded with her to snap out of it in my head. "It wasn't your fault! For goodness sakes, Annie none of it was ever your fault. Not my coma, not Bianca, nor Luke, nor any of it. You can't change fate."

Annabeth looked at me with such pain it made me want to cry. "He loved me, you know. That's why he didn't let them kill me, ever. That's why he came to me." She looked so tired. "And I loved him too, just not the way he wanted me to.." With that she closed her eyes. She slumped for a second before her eyes opened again. She looked around with a confused expression. "What happened? All I remember was seeing flashes before Mr. Andrews mentioned something then...Nothing."

I hugged her tightly as I whispered, "You and Percy had panic attacks. You blacked out." The bell rang stating the end of class. "And that, is our cue to go to Chem. Unless you want to go home?"

Annabeth groaned. "If we go home every single time something like this happens, going to school isn't worth it. We'll just talk to the teachers and hope this never happens again." She walked with all of us out of the classroom before realizing something. "Shit! Percy's still unconscious!"

For some reason, we all kind of just started laughing. I couldn't help it, the situation was so bizarre and that was saying something coming from us. "Oh god, this is going to be one hell of a story to tell the others."

Jason suddenly glanced at Percy and cheered. "I'm not the one that passed out this time!" That brought on another round of laughter, especially when I shocked Percy to wake him up.

After suffering through Humanities, having to eat lunch outside so no one could stare at them any more and being watched like hawks in Human Bio, we finally got to our last class of the day. Cooking class. I took my seat next to Calypso with the eyes of everyone on me. Because I was the one that stood up to a damn teacher. Gods I hated my life sometimes.

With a simple recipe in front of us, we were supposed to follow the directions exactly so that we didn't screw anything up. Calypso took one look at it and crumpled up the paper. "Ew, no. Preheat the oven to 350, I'll get to work on finding ingredients." While I did as told she climbed onto the counter and pulled out a jar of peanut butter from a high shelf. "Perfect. We'll need this, can you go ask for two eggs from the fridge, 1/2 cup of brown sugar (packed into the cup) and some vanilla." She was busy grabbing sugar and pouring it into the bowl with some peanut butter to mix together.

I walked over to the teacher and smiled at him. "Hey, I was wondering if I could get some stuff from the fridge." He just nodded and let me grab everything I needed, only helping me by carrying the eggs back to our station.

"May I ask what you ladies are doing?" He looked right out of college, really tall and really handsome. And really engaged to his boyfriend. "I can see you have completely ignored the recipe, sharing one from home?"

Calypso shook her head. "Making this up on the spot, that's kind of my forte." She was moving like there was nothing more important. "These are flourless cookies, I know some kids can't have ones with. Though cause there is peanut butter I guess people with that kind of allergy can't have it but still." She finally finished with beating all of the ingredients together, she handed me the whisks that still had a bit of cookie dough on them. "Taste test them for me please."

Instead of just wiping it off with my finger, I put my mouth on the whisk. I used my tongue to get it off, gasping as the flavor hit my tastebuds. "Oh, woah. Why do you let Leo cook! These are amazing!"

Leo glared at me from his station. "I heard that, Thalia! And she lets me cook because she loves the apron!" He winked at us from two stations away while we rolled our eyes at him. "Love you too sunshine!"

As Calypso finished rolling the dough into small balls and placed them on the cookie sheet, she turned to me. "You can put them into the oven to do your part." She set the timer above the oven and waited for me to press start.

I pushed the cookies in and closed the door as the beep signalling the timer had started happened. I turned to find Calypso searching through the cabinets from on top of the counter. "What are you doing?"

"I need chocolate chips or something, I need..." She stopped her search as Leo walked over with a bag behind his back and a mischievous smirk on his face.

"Kisses?" He held out a bag of Hershey's Kisses and laughed as she nodded happily. "What do I get as a reward?" He wrapped his arms around her waist while she rolled her eyes,

Calypso smirked at him. "A kiss." She grabbed one of the chocolates and pressed it to his lips as I laughed. She kissed his cheek as she slipped out of his arms and checked on the cookies. Fifteen minutes before class ended, they came out of the oven smelling like heaven. We pressed a Hershey Kiss into each one while they were still warm.

Preston, as he had us call him, announced it was time for him to taste all of the cookies. As he went around, he nodded at most of them. He looked concerned at what Travis and Connor created, elected to ignore it and turned to ours. As soon as he tasted it his eyes widened. "God girl, this is good. What are you, magic?"

I laughed as I swung an arm around her. "We think so." We handed out the rest of the cookies just before the bell rang, giggling about how awesome it was for everyone to compliment us. Then I realized something as we were headed to our lockers. "Calypso, I have an awesome idea that you might possibly hate!" I was practically bouncing as I came up with the idea. "We could sell cookies here at school! Like we could take orders on Monday and Wednesday then bring people stuff on Tuesday and Thursday."

Calypso rolled her eyes and made a face. "Thalia. Do you realize how much of a hassle that would be? I mean, I know everyone loves MY cooking but...I'm tired." She pouted as she hugged Leo. "Can we go to bed when we get home? I don't wanna do homework...Don't make me...!"

Leo rolled his eyes at her before kissing her forehead. "Only if you go grab my jacket from the Chemistry room, I forgot it in there. My cousin told me she saw it in there." He kissed her hair as she groaned into his shoulder.

"Fine. But only because you asked nicely." Calypso glared at him as she walked away from us. "Be back in a second."

Will rubbed his eyes as he looked ready to pass out. "I wanna go to bed when I get home too, I sleepy." He leaned his head on Nico's, yawning loudly. "Can I just ride in one of the cars instead of on the motorcycle? I don't wanna fall off."

"You couldn't if you tried, armor straps you on remember? And I wouldn't let you." Nico pressed a quick kiss to Will's forehead before his face went paler than usual. I mean, he had gotten tanner since Will started fawning over him but he was still pale. "Something's wrong..." He started focusing on something, probably checking everyone's life forces. After about five minutes his eyes opened, filled with fear. "Um, guys. Who isn't here?" As soon as he saw Leo's face he went back to concentrating. "Shit."

It was like someone hit a springboard, all of us bolted to Mrs. Higgins classroom, the one for Junior's Chem. The smell of smoke hit us like a wall as we got close, making us run faster. The walls of the building were made out of non flammable material so there was no chance of anyone getting hurt that was outside of the room. Except, Calypso was still inside.

Leo was frantically kicking the door, hitting it. Trying anything to get it to budge. "Guys it won't open, it's locked." He looked ready to collapse he was shaking so badly. Tears were streaming down his face silently as he looked at us helplessly. "I can't help her."

Nico was turning paler and paler. "Guys, she's using her powers to save herself but it's draining her. She'll be fine for a few more minutes but we need to get her out." He turned to Will and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "I'm sorry..." He grabbed Leo's arm and looked him in the eyes. "Focus on forcing the fire away from us as quick as possible. I'll try and get us as close to her life force as possible."

Before anyone could react to his words, they both disappeared. Will started panicking. "Guys. This is bad. Really, really bad. Not only are three of them in the burning room, Nico is using his powers again, Calypso is almost dying..." Of course being tired wasn't helping the situation for Will.

They reappeared a second later, both coughing horribly. "Couldn't find her. It's awful in there! I couldn't even sense her location in the room, I almost landed us in the middle of the flames!" Nico looked ready to pass out.

Though the fire alarm was still ringing which I'm guessing it wasn't just me that barely noticed, I knew we didn't have long. I took a chance and used all of my strength to kick the door in as I prayed to every god I could think of to make it work. I almost cried when the door flew into the room. I bolted inside ignoring the pain from the flames I had to run through. I saw her through the smoke as she was glowing. Literally, her entire body was encased in gold. I grabbed her before bolting out of the room. Then the fire ceased, leaving a warning burned on the floor.

 _Leave now, Demigods._

 _Or seal your fate._

 _If it's not you,_

 _it's your mate._

We all looked at eacher, realizing we were way over our heads. ignored it for the moment as Calypso needed medical attention. I handed her to Percy who bolted to is car with everyone behind him. I was the only one who saw the damage disappear, leaving only the broken glass to show what had happened.

 _Calypso's POV_

You know that feeling of being watched, but you know you're alone? That's what it felt like as I was grabbing Leo's jacket. As soon I went to grab the door handle, I heard glass shatter. I whirled around to find every single container that used to have chemicals in it was a pile of glass. I knew that some of them were explosive when mixed so I really wanted to get out so I wouldn't find out how much of an explosion it would cause. "Shit, shit, shit. Open, you stupid door!" I heard it before I felt it. The crackling, the ignition. Then it was the heat. I turned around as I watched stunned while the fire moved across the room, engulfing everything. I knew I had to move but my body wasn't working. I finally moved in time to dodge the last of the fire as it encircled the room. I looked around for a way out but the smoke in the room was stinging my eyes. "Okay. Okay. Leo said that I have to stay closer to the floor then the smoke because the smoke will kill me first and he can save me from fire. Oh, try to breathe as little as possible which probably means I should stop talking." I sat down in the center of the room as I tried to focus on keeping a protective barrier away from me. If I could hold out for long enough, they would be able to find me. After a while, I felt something. It was weird, like someone was giving my soul a check up. "Nico!" I was getting dizzy but I still opened my eyes and tried to find them in the smoke. Maybe if they were already here...It took a minute, but I started to hear the door being hit repeatedly. "Guys!" I felt the barrier I had put up to protect myself weakening.

Something changed in the flames. They seemed to move away from me. I felt strong arms grab me as I felt my body growing weak. The smoke was getting to my lungs, my body was dead after using up that much power. All I knew was when we hit the shadows, I was gone.

I heard beeping noises. It was like, 70 times per minute which was really starting to annoy me. Suddenly I was hit with a wave of pain. I groaned as I tried to force my eyes open. I was met with a kind of handsome blonde guy checking something on a monitor. I tried to sit up but I just ended up hissing in pain. I looked at my body, well as best as I could when I couldn't move my neck. I almost cried from what I saw. My arms were completely bandaged from palm to shoulder, coming out from under the gown I was dressed in was more bandages on my legs. I wasn't sure what was on my face, but I think it was helping me breathe.

"You're up. You know, you really should be thankful your powers saved you from more than minor burns. You're like a patchwork doll though, so the bandages make it look worse then it is. You shouldn't try to talk, just nod or shake your head as best you can." He smiled at me before realizing I was still looking at him confused. "Oh! I'm a son of Apollo, Will's half brother. They got me because it's you, wouldn't want a regular doctor here. Anyway, I'm not sure if we can give you ambrosia because it looks like your blood is reacting weirdly to it."

As I tried to process what he was saying, an idea popped into my head. "Well, can you give me a shot of nectar? That should be enough but I can put a protection spell on myself to make sure it doesn't do any damage if it doesn't heal me."

He shook his head. "Nope, not taking the chance. Sorry, you're just going to have to deal with modern medicine and whatever our healing magic can do." He shrugged as he handed me a cord with a button on it. "If you press the button, something to help will the pain will happen. Okay?"

When I refused, I noticed him press it himself. "No, don't do..." Then the relief came. It took one more press, but I felt my eyes getting heavy. "Maybe I'll take the modern version, but I want no homework for the rest of the week and free cookies for life! Oh, and Leo needs an auto shop..." No matter how much I wanted to stay awake, I let the drugs lull me into much needed oblivion. Three problems, two of which were attacks, in less than a week. I was done with being awake.


	17. Calm Before The Storm

_Katie's POV_

I never thought that life could get worse after the war. I thought that maybe we could get on with our lives and the fates would take pity on us. But no. No, we were demigods. And life had to suck. So of course Percy and Annabeth had to have panic attacks, then Calypso had to be put in the freakin' hospital while we were left trying to calm Leo down and keep an overly concerned Will from forcing Nico to bed rest! I wanted a holiday. Of course, it was only Monday. And Mondays always suck.

It took a while, but we settled back into our daily routines. Thanksgiving was in two weeks, meaning we had a week and a half of school left. I couldn't wait to go see my dad. That's when the snow hit. "It's snowing!" A girl in my art class shouted as she pointed the window out to her friend. Of course it was cold outside the past few months, but still. Snow? She then went back to work as she noticed the look the teacher was giving her.

I turned to my right and nudged Annabeth. "Do you think we can plan a trip to central park at one point?" With the gleam in my eye, I think she got what I was dying to do. "If there's enough snow.." I turned away before my teacher would yell at us to focus, my free draw turning into a slightly sloppy version of a girl made out of vines reaching up to a boy made from the wind. The way I drew it, the boy was dancing around her while she was forced to remain still but she was smiling. Other, less detailed wind children ran by laughing. The next scene I started drawing was of the boy leaving and the vine girl crying. I drew the outline for that then turned to her last page as she sketched out the wind boy coming back in winter, teasing the girl warm under the snow as she smiled. I started adding details to the second one, only to hear the bell ring as I finished the boy in the one where he was leaving. I sighed but gathered up my stuff in my art notebook. I slipped my hand in Travis's as we walked out of the classroom with our friends as one giant group.

Of course Annabeth and Percy were leading the charge because they loved our next subject, science. Behind them Thalia was rolling her eyes at her dork of a cousin, before turning to talk to Piper and Jason. Nico had his arm around Will's waist, not wanting to let go as they had different classes. Then there was Hazel, walking with her hand wrapped around Frank's arm. They were whispering innocently, talking about how Frank had tried to draw Hazel but ended up drawing more of a kitten then anything else.

Travis kissed my cheek as he took my stuff from me and put it away in my locker for me before grabbing the science binder I needed. "I'll see you during lunch, okay?" Though we were in the same class, my table was in the back corner with Will, Nyssa and Chris since we were always good in class. He was in the front of the room with Lou, Leo and Percy. Little did our teacher know, if you put most of the trouble makers with their significant others then they would calm right down. But them together and...Well I'll let what happened in the middle of class explain. So Leo got the idea from Travis to maybe make the fire dancers he once did to distract one of the little kids in the infirmary while Will fixed them up and send it over to the teacher while they weren't looking. Lou of course could make them look like something else or cover it up. So of course he did, not giving Lou Ellen enough time to use her magic. Completely freaking out the teacher. Will and I bolted to our feet.

While Percy said he didn't do anything to a believing Annabeth as he actually had some work done, I was glaring down at my sheepish boyfriend. "Explain." I saw Will repremaning Lou Ellen and Nyssa glaring at her little brother.

"I didn't think she'd freak out, I only gave the idea!" From the look on my face, he knew he wasn't getting out of it. So he put on the puppy dog eyes. He stuck his bottom lip out slightly, looked up at me with a hurt expression and just generally looked half way between adorable and heart wrenching. "Please don't kill me?"

I let my glare fall but my arms stayed crossed. "Apologize and I'll leave it be. But you can't prank anyone for the rest of the week, AND you have to help me with the garden." I noticed the others getting similar treatments.

"Leo. What would Calypso say to you acting like this?" I didn't have to look to see him flinch. Though his girlfriend was doing better, she was still hospitalized. She still had a few days of recovery left, it had only been three and the doctor said because of them being both chemical and arson burns it meant even with her fast healing it was going to take about six days.

In unison the three of them apologized to the teacher and the four of us went back to our seats. The teacher was staring at them in confusion before saying we would have new seats at the end of the week. I rolled my eyes before going back to what we were working on to begin with.

After suffering through math, which I sucked at but all of the Hermes kids were good at, I had a free block. So of course I started getting ready for the garden club meeting that I always forced Travis to go to. He usually just helped out when needed, and walked me talk or something along those lines. Apparently I'm cute when I get excited about this stuff. Whenever he said that I usually just blushed.

Everyone but those of us in clubs had sport or had already gone home. The ones in club got to leave school before them but we usually stayed. And that's how I ended up sitting with Travis, Emily and Rachel while we watched them practice. Right now, Thalia, Lou Ellen, Nico and Cecil were in the middle of soccer practice. They were scrimmaging so naturally it was a cousin square off. On one of the other fields, Frank and Jason were in the middle of football practice. Frank was evenly matched in size with the captain, completely matched in everything but brutality. He didn't really like going against his teammates so he was going as easy as he could while actually practicing, until he got paired up with Jason. Then they got rough. Then there was Reyna and Hazel. There was a farm nearby that was letting the school loan horses for students to ride, so they were racing through the forests having the time of their lives. Percy was inside for swimming and Annabeth was breezing through Mathletes. Will came to sit next to us, cheering for Nico. He was back from making sure everyone that had gone home was being good, putting Clarisse in charge (with Nyssa and Rachel). That's when the cheerleaders came out of the gym. They usually did gymnastics in the gym then practiced actual routines on a spare field.

Drew did a row of flips and cartwheels as she finally got to the top of the hill, laughing with Piper. This was one of the only times the two girls really got along. Well, more like how Piper and Annabeth got along. The two girls noticed the scrimmage going on, then turned to the captain with pouts. I held back a laugh as they cheered and ran over to the side lines so they could ask the coaches if it was okay.

While Piper ended up cheering for Thalia, Drew was cheering for Nico with half of the girls from their squad. It ended up in the coaches giving up on ever winning as time ran out and it was still a tie. We ran down the hill as they stretched out their sore muscles while they listened to their coaches pointing out things they noticed. When that was done, Piper hugged Thalia and congratulated her on a good game. After everyone was done changing, Hazel and Reyna met us in the parking lot. Piper was getting a piggyback ride from Jason, her ribbon still in her hair.

When Frank hugged Hazel his nose scruntched for a second. "You smell like horses." He kissed her forehead as she pouted before she turned to me.

"Horseback riding was so fun! It was the best feeling, even if the horses couldn't go as fast as Arion, BUT STILL!" She was going to be giggly for the rest of the day which made me happy.

On our way home, Travis squeezed my knee while he held the wheel in one hand. "It looks like you had fun today. I really liked those drawings you were working on in art class, you think you'll finish them at one point?"

"I'd love to finish them. I was thinking of maybe having Lou write something, like a story for it while I work on other pictures." I smiled at him happily. Then everything hit me like a stab to the heart. "You know, I'm really happy with how everyone has something that keeps them...enjoying school. Instead of just closing off. They're staying strong and it makes me proud of them."

Travis glanced at me before turning his eyes back to the road. "I know you act like the mom of the house, but you need to remember that you don't need to care for everyone all the time. Take care of yourself too. I'm not saying it's a bad thing to be happy that everyone is holding strong but if they end up slipping you can't blame yourself or anything like that. And you need to keep you happy too." He slipped his hand into mine without looking.

"How can I not be happy when I've got you?" I meant it teasingly but it was really true. He was my happiness, but I understood what he meant. "I'll take your advice into consideration. Do you want to come up to the roof with me when we get home?"

He smiled at the windshield as he nodded, bringing my hand to his lips for a quick second before putting it back down. "Of course, KitKat." That's when I knew I had found my one and only. Sure he was an annoying asshole sometimes, but it was moments like these that showed me how when he was it wasn't so bad. As long as it was him and he never apologized for that.

When we got home, I dragged him up to the roof before realizing I wasn't in the best gardening clothes. I shrugged it off as I changed into overalls in the shed and slid on a warmer jacket. I came out, posing to Travis's amusement. I laughed as I kneeled down by my plants, first tending to the photinia, which are kind of like colored shrubs. Anyway, I started humming a tune to help them grow. While I sang, I started cleaning out the dead plants from the other parts of the garden white I put them in the compost area. I could tell it was getting colder but I reminded myself it was only November. We usually don't get snow until after Thanksgiving. Right? Just to be sure I moved all of the plants I could into a little greenhouse with a machine Leo had made to keep the plants at a good temp. It would only turn on if the temp dropped.

Travis helped as best he could, having already memorized the way I did things with all of his pranking experience and from the times he used to help me in the garden. He pressed a kiss to my forehead. "I think that's all we can do. Come on inside, I'll make us some hot cocoa."

I leaned into his touch as I nodded. "Okay, thank you. I just hope nothing bad happens this week...I don't think we can handle anything else for a while." In my head I looked at the garden as I thought, _Or someone might break again._

 _Lou Ellen_

Hello dear reader! Oops, not supposed to talk to you. Now where were we? I get distracted easily then I for..OH! We just got home from practice. I was sore, like mega sore. I just wanted to curl up on the couch with an ice pack, which is exactly what I did. Until I felt excruciating pain in my abdomen, a side effect of being female and not from soccer. "Advil! Nector! Something!" I felt tears stinging my eyes as I curled into myself and tried to ride it out.

When Clarisse heard me, she winced. "Oh, I'm sorry." She went into the kitchen and a moment later came back with some advil and ginger ale. She flinched as I let the tears go, barely able to sit up and take the pills in her hand. "That bad, eh?"

Cecil, who was sitting in an arm chair raised his eyebrows at me with concern just as Piper ran in growling. "GUYS! WHO FORGOT TO RESTOCK!" That's when she noticed me and her anger subsided for a minute. "I'm so sorry honey. Cecil, please get her a puke bucket. She's looking a little green."

I felt the bile in my stomach as she spoke, making me cover my mouth. "NO! I just had medicine, now I can't take any!" I snatched the bucket from Cecil as I was just about to reach the bathroom, but I didn't get there in time. I hurled from the pain. "Sorry Cecil. Period."

Cecil looked calmer as soon as I said that before handing me a cup of water and a towel. "Here. I'll go get someone to drive me to the grocery store and I'll get you some chocolate and some comfort stuff." He was used to me acting like this, having to deal with my hormonal rampages a lot while just being friends with me at camp.

"Thank you!" was all I got out before I bolted to the bathroom and actually made it to the toilet this time as I felt someone pull back my hair.

When that was over and Cecil got back, I curled up on the couch with him as he handed me chocolate bars that I ate slowly while I watched some TV. "Do you think I could magically turn myself into a guy or something til this was over so I wouldn't have to deal with this?" When he shook his head I pouted. "OR! I could just get surgery or something to make them go away..."

"Lou Ellen, you are being really over dramatic. I know it hurts sometimes but I know you would never get that surgery. You want kids, you told me so yourself." Though he did have a point, I didn't want to admit it. "Just suffer through it for like a week and then maybe...I'll take you to meet my family for thanksgiving? With all of this snow, we'll be able to go sledding or something with my sister."

That gots my spirits up. Screw him and his amazing ability to make me feel better, even when I don't want him too.

Now that I think about it, snow has always been a good thing for me. But now...I kind of hate it. We've been snowed into the state for the past week with Thanksgiving fast approaching, meaning I wouldn't get to see my family nor did anyone else. The romans didn't even get to go home. Everyone was a bit cranky, though trying not to show it. It did not help that somehow half of the girls synced up meaning we were twice as cranky. I hated my life.

It did not help that this week was the one where it was only half of one. And I had some of the most annoying people in my classes. I was about ready to rip off someone's head by the end of lunch on Monday. It was an Orange week which meant I had to suffer through Latin, Chem and Humanities. Then of course Rosie thought it was her job to put hot sauce in my sandwich which made me gag in surprise before deciding I didn't care and just took smaller bites while Cecil rubbed my back comfortingly, glaring at her every so often.

Finally the bell rung to signal our leave for Human Bio. I wasn't really that uncomfortable but it was really annoying when one of the other guys in the class would make a joke. Like Leo for instance, but he had quieted down since Calypso got back. He was always fussing over her. As we settled down for class, Ezmar climbed into my lap. I turned on my phone as I went to the Disney song playlist and shuffled it for her before putting in the headphones for her. I played with her feet while she giggled, class only starting about five minutes later.

The teacher looked slightly uncomfortable as he cleared his throat. "Okay everyone. Today starts our study of the human heart." He leaned on his desk as he looked at us. "Has everyone ever heard the expression, 'died of a broken heart'? Or maybe 'you scared me to death'?" As everyone nodded, his eyes found mine. "Did you know that these expressions come from things that could happen? For instance, your brain registers heartbreak as physical pain. Now if put in enough pain you can go into shock which can cause death. Simple enough, right? Also, there are conditions that people may have that if startled it can stop their hearts. Also being scared for prolonged periods of time causes so much adrenaline to run through your heart that it can stop. Just remember that guys. You can't see everything on the outside."

With that stereotypical no bullying mumbo jumbo trying to be disguised as a heartfelt science lesson, we started looking at diagrams. Let's just say with what the guys by the window started talking about, I'm glad Ezmar had headphones in or they'd be dissecting my heart in class. I did not want to be in the war path of her mom.

As soon as class was out, I piled into the back of Nyssa's truck with Cecil. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders as I leaned on his chest. I could feel his hand pulling my hair back gently, the gentleness of it plus the music coming from the radio was enough to make me drowsy. When I yawned, Cecil kissed my hair. "Love? Do you wanna go to central park this weekend for a date?"

I nodded before curling up against his chest as best I could with a seat belt on. "I'd love to." With that, I drifted off to sleep. Don't tell Cecil but I may or may not have woken up when we got home and just pretended to still be asleep so he'd carry me upstairs. I liked it when he did that kind of stuff for me, though hitting my feet against the door frame was not appreciated.

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson characters, they all go to Rick Riordan. All I own is plot and OC's.**

 **THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR REVIEWING! I love you guys so much. And just a reminder, constructive criticism is welcome. Not that I don't love the fact that you guys like it, I just want you guys to know your opinions are welcome.**


	18. Everyone and Everything Go(es) To Hades

_Will's POV_

It wasn't my fault! Though I still felt absolutely horrible for possibly causing the entire thing...I kind of saw Cecil and Lou grabbing all of their winter gear, so I decided that Nico and I could hang out with them for a little before splitting off so they could have some alone time. Plus...I wanted some with Nico. To bad that made everyone want to come...

"Duck!" I slammed both me and Nico to the ground as the projectile flew over our heads. "Close one." I grabbed one of our own as I spiked it into the enemy's wall, breaking off part of it. "Suck it Stoll!" I grinned as I heard him swear at me.

Nico was grinning madly as he looked up at me. "I think it's only us and my family left. Oh, and Emily." He fell on top of me as he kissed me, only for me to notice later that he shoved me out of the line of fire. I was way to distracted by his fluffy black coat, dark blue snow plants and the cutest little puff on top of his grey had to notice. Plus you know, Nico had kissed me. "Watch it Sunshine, I don't like to lose."

I grinned back as I threw one right as Percy poked his head out. I wasn't aiming for the area right above their snow fort...But everyone knows I can't aim straight. (He he, Nico would smack me if I told him that joke). "Sorry Perce."

Said boy was now glaring at me with snow in his hair from where the snowball hit. "Head shots aren't nice!" He proceeded to move over to where everyone who had gotten 'killed' where. We had made some snow stands and written 'Hades' in the snow in front of it. "Get Will out for me Wise Girl!"

Hazel slammed a snowball into Thalia's fort, grinding as part of it landed on Emily who laughed at her. "You're welcome!" Hazel went back behind her fort before trying to hit Piper. To bad Piper realized it first. "Aw, come on..." She pouted as she was forced to walk over, though you could tell it was fake. She was dressed Similarly to Nico except her hat was purple and her pants were more of a muddled gold color.

That's when everything became a free for all. Jason aimed for Percy, Percy aimed for Thalia, Thalia aimed for Piper, Piper aimed for Nico, Nico aimed for Frank and Frank had aimed for me. To bad I was to focused on my throw towards Jason to notice. As soon as all of us got hit, we started laughed as we attacked the crowd (only the ones that were our friends, not the little kids or adults or anything. I got tackled to the ground by Hazel as she forced snow down my jacket and shirt. "Hey!"

Hazel disappeared as she started wrestling with Thalia, so I went after Cecil. He shrieked as I pinned him to the ground, only to have Lou dog pile onto me. "I know you accidentally ruined our date, but this is fun too."

Cecil's eyes twinkled underneath me. "Who says he ruined the date and I didn't plan this?" He shoved both of us off before running away from his girlfriend who was chasing after him trying to figure out if he really did plan this.

I rolled my eyes before I found myself battling off both Jason and Percy as they mercilessly attacked me. "Aw, come on guys! You haven't even caught me and Nico...Oops, never mind." I laughed as I noticed them freeze for a second, giving me time to escape. I laughed as I heard them start freaking out, considering I knew how protective they were of their "little bro".

Of course as soon as they finally caught me, I got pinned by Percy while Jason started dragging over Nico. I smiled up at Percy flirtatiously. "Wow Percy, I knew you had a thing for blondes but I thought I wasn't your type."

Percy simply laughed and winked at me. "I have a certain type for girls. You on the other hard, are in no way a girl..." He turned to Jason who was looking at us with a pout. "Oh you know I'm only joking, he is absolutely nothing compared to you."

Nico rolled his eyes. "I know you guys love flirting but really? It hurts my ears. And that, hurts my eyes. I'm the only one that gets to be on top of him..." With that both of us burst out laughing as both boys paled. Percy automatically climbed off me and Jason let go of Nico. That only made us laugh harder.

That's when I started shivering, as I wasn't moving and I had just landed in the snow like a thousand times. I know people stereotypically think that children of Apollo are always warm. Wrong. I hate the cold, I need the sun and weather that is at least 60 degrees. Maybe 90. "It's really cold..."

That's when Nico looked at me for more than a second and his eyes widened. "Come here Sunshine, your lips are blue." He wrapped me up into a hug letting me snuggle my face into his neck. I felt him shiver as the cold hit him, but he simply tightened his grip on me. He was warm, really warm. I smiled against his neck, glad that my hood blocked the small kiss I planted on it from Percy and Jason. "I'm going to take him back, okay? He's freezing."

No one questioned us as he pulled me into the shadow of a tree and shadow traveled us back to the apartment. I was surprised when we appeared in our bedroom and he started stripping me of all my winter gear which disappeared into the shadows, finally getting me down to my wet jeans. I watched as he pulled a pair of sweats and a dry pair of underwear for me from the closet and tossed them to me, making me blush.

"I'll wait outside for you to change, then it's under the covers with you. I'll make hot cocoa." He kissed my cheek lightly before leaving me to change, only to reappear after I was done with a warm mug of cocoa that he placed on the nightstand before pulling back the covers for me. "In."

I obeyed without question, glad not to be the doctor anymore. I was glad for the warmth but I didn't like the fact that I was still shirtless. That was until after finished the cocoa, Nico snuggled in next to me under the covers without a shirt either and pressed himself too me. "You're really warm!" I snuggled closer to him, grinning as I pressed my cold feet to his legs where his own sweats had ridden up.

Nico wrapped his arms around me, pulling the covers to our chins. "And you are freezing. Your point?" He kissed my forehead for a full second before pulling away. "You need sleep sunshine." Then he started humming, moving so his lips were right my my ear. His vice was so quiet I could barely hear the words but they washed over me in seconds, making my eyelids heavy and my body relax. "Addormentarsi il mio angelo, lasciare che il sonno si toglie..."

Will's day was going great, up until gym class. The second semester had just started so everything was winding down from finals. My greek class was just Mrs. Cortez going over the next half of the year and some of the opportunities coming up. Then there was gym. I showed up early, changing in one of the bathroom stalls before leaving the locker room with Nico before anyone else showed up. I was simply playing with Nico's hair that he kept just long enough to be put in a ponytail but not long enough for Piper or Reyna to come after him with scissors when a large group of people walked out of the locker rooms.

One of the girls who closely resembled Thalia in style saw us and rolled her eyes, nudging her friend. She gestured to us and whispered something which made him laugh, bring everyone's attention to us. "You know you guys look really gay right now, right?"

I snorted. "Yeah we are happy, thanks for asking." I noticed her face and faked surprise. "Oh, you meant we're acting like a couple...Well we should be considering we are one." I kissed Nico's cheek as I fixed his hair in a ponytail.

Before she could say anything else, Thalia ran laughing from the locker room. Her eyes landed on us and she smirked. "Death Breath, you prepared to lose?" When he snorted out a laugh she raised an eyebrow. "You seem to forget, little cousin. Oldest has the advantage."

Nico leaned back onto my chest, perfectly content with his verbal battle. "Then you better watch your back or Percy is going to knock you down a peg." He watched with me as said boy snuck up behind her and threw her over his shoulder. "Or carry you around like a rag doll, whatever works."

Thalia hollered for Percy to let her down but it wasn't until Jason tackled both of them onto one of the floor mats that she got free. That started a three way wrestling match that Nico just had to jump into the middle of. The cousins were goofing off and trying to pin each other while also avoiding getting knocked over by one of the other two.

When Hazel and Frank walked out, I thought order could be restored but she just joined in. I raised an eyebrow at Frank but he shrugged. "This is them bonding. They don't get to do that a lot without breaking something."

I knew order would be restored as Annabeth and Piper walked out. Annabeth sighed as she turned to Piper. "I'll get Thalia and Percy, you get Jason and Hazel?" She glanced at me and got the nod she needed. "Will can get Nico. Perfect." She raised her hand and counted to three with her fingers, signaling us to drive into the brawl. She got Thalia first and kicked her out before dragging Percy.

I scooped Nico up and backed away with him pouting in my arms. "You were the one who had to join in! You can't blame me, Angel." I laughed as he struggled in my arms til I put him down, finally noticing that a lot of people were giving us weird looks. I elected to ignore it.

Frank had Hazel on his back, not letting her fall off no matter how much she struggled. "I still don't know why you jumped in there, you knew it was going to get broken up anyway." He blushed as she kissed his cheek.

All of the cousins smiled at once and said, "It was kind of a family bonding moment, you know we don't get to see a lot of eachother." It was very creepy. Then only Percy spoke. "With Thalia away with an all girls hunting group, Hazel at the other camp and Nico spending so much time with Will it's only Jason and me." He looped an arm around the blonde, grinning.

Piper and Annabeth moved between them and glared at the others boyfriend as they took their spots under their arms. Annabeth sope first. "I know Percy has a thing for blondes that can kick his ass but really Piper, you should be able to keep Jason away from him and under control."

"Well we both know Jason has a thing for green eyes but really Annabeth Percy should keep his distance." Then Piper's smile grew. "But you know I guess I have a thing for blondes too, I can tell why Percy fell for his charm."

Annabeth laughed as she nudged Percy. "Guess I like green eyes too. Maybe it's the boys that should watch out, I might steal you yet Piper." All four of them laughed as we all rolled our eyes until the teacher came in.

"Today we are going to be doing some self defense. Some people last semester showed to have a lot of knowledge in this area, anyone from the same camp?" Her eyes widened as she noticed the ten of them raise their hands, me only doing it because Nico forced me too. I was never really all that good at fighting. "Well then, two of you step forward. I want to see what you guys can do."

Nico and Hazel stepped up. Hazel pulled her hair back into a ponytail while she smiled at me. "I promise I won't break him too badly that you can't fix him." She aimed her attention to her brother as she tilted her head and cracked her neck. "You're going down, Nico."

"Sorry Sis, I don't think so." He suddenly rammed forward and knocked her to the ground as he tried to pin her. What none of us were expecting was for her to arch her back and flip him over and off her.

Hazel stood quickly as she turned to face him again, aiming a quick kick to his head which he blocked with his hands. She moved the momentum of him pushing on her leg to twirl in mid air and get him with the other one in the cheek. She landed gracefully back on the mat.

Nico raised an eyebrow at her as he touched his cheek which was now showing a nice bruise. "Getting rough now are we?" He faked a hit to her jaw and tried to swipe her legs out from under her but she jumped, landing wobbily giving him room to get a hit into her stomach which knocked her back.

Hazel rolled over on the floor before he could do anything else, swiping at his legs knocking him to her level. She tried to pin him this time but she was lighter than him. He easily threw her off. She landed on all fours and straightened, slamming the palm of her hand into his throat. She watched him go down before pushing her foot into his chest. "I win."

Nico sighed. "Fine, only because that really hurt." He rubbed his throat as she pulled him up and kissed her forehead. "Nice job." He walked back over to me and slipped his hand into mine.

I kissed his bruised cheek, putting a little magic into it so it lessened the pain of where he got hit. I turned back to the teacher who was congratulating them on a job well done before saying that she just decided to call in an expert considering some of us were already pretty well trained.

And out walked Malcolm, Annabeth's older brother. He grinned at all of us and addressed the class. "My name is Malcolm and I'll be teaching you guys self defense. To learn, you need to actually doing so I'll be pairing all of you up with someone more experienced, then if there are any left over then you guys will be here with me. Any questions?" When no one moved, he nodded. "Okay. People with no experience to the bleachers and everyone else stand by me."

As a little over half the class of about thirty kids walked over to the bleachers, it was all of the demigods and three other kids. Annabeth hugged Malcolm quickly before moving to her spot, Percy giving him a bro hug.

"Annabeth, back corner mat. Um...you with her." He pointed to the girl who was laughing at us earlier. "Percy go over to the opposite corner with..you." He pointed to one of the football jocks. He listed off everyone in our group until it was just me. "You sure you can do this Will?"

I glared at him. "Just because I can't win against an experienced fighter doesn't mean I don't know anything. I seem to recall you getting it handed to you by Lou this summer." I crossed my arms, smirking.

Malcolm shrugged. "Point taken. Go to one of the last two mats and take..." He pointed to a small girl in the back who looked surprised to be picked. All the others were girl boy besides the cheerleader that got put with Nico. "Go with him. Everyone else is with me." Luckily he only had three of them.

I moved over to a mat and smiled shyly at the girl. "I'm Will. I'm not the best at this, I always lose." I stuck out my hand for her to shake, surprised by her strong grip. "And your name is?"

"Alexa." Then she flipped me over her shoulder, turning to face me. "And I actually have four older brothers and one younger one so I know more than you would think." As I tried to swiper her feet out from under her, she jumped but stumbled on the landing, falling over.

We rough housed back and forth, not really fighting. I learned more about her, she learned a little more about me. Apparently she stuck to her self so during art classes she stuck to the back or didn't show up.

Finally Malcolm called us in, praising the ones that did well out of the group and smacking the back of Travis's head when he got to him. "Dirty tricks won't work when I'm the teacher. Next time I'll put you with Katie..." Seeing he didn't seem to care, he turned to Annabeth. "Or maybe my little sister. I'd love to see that fight."

Travis shook his head so fast I swear he got whiplash. "Nope, I'm good. I'll play nice, I promise. Just don't stick Brainiac on me." He dodged as said girl went to punch him, hiding behind Katie with a smirk. "Though watching you and her fight could be interesting."

Malcolm rolled his eyes at him before turning to the class. "Class dismissed, Will and Alexa stay back to talk." He gave Annabeth a quick hug, pressing a kiss to her forehead. In a low voice, he whispered, "I love you sis. You know you can talk to me about anything, even if it's a little thing. Especially if it's Percy, but not anything gushy mushy." It wasn't until later that I realized he spoke in greek, the whispering was so none of us would over hear. I watched as everyone disappeared into the locker rooms, but my attention was brought back to the blonde in front of me when he cleared his throat. "I noticed you two weren't really into the lesson. I expect more from you guys next time."

Alexa yawned as she rolled her eyes. "Come on, at least give me a challenge next time. We're on the same level so it's not really helping us." She fiddled with her basketball shorts, balling the fabric in her hands.

I nodded in agreement, noticing the irritation in his eyes. "Maybe put her with Katie next time or something, she's got plenty of experience beating up boys bigger than her." I ruffled her hair as she shoved me away.

When Malcolm shooed us away, I had to wait for the stampede of boys to leave the locker room, leaving me to change a lone, Nico waiting outside the door. But as soon as I had changed into my jeans and was grabbing my t shirt, I heard it. I heard the door shut, the lock click and the static. I bolted for the door but I already knew I wasn't leaving. And that was when the screaming started. "Nico!" My brain was trying to tell me it was fake, but when it came to him it didn't matter.

This wasn't the first time, I had heard him in the middle of the night when he was having a nightmare. But this. This was the first time I couldn't kiss it away or hug him tightly to let him know I was there. Or let me know he was okay.

I felt my body start to shake as I lost control of my breathing. The hot tears streaked down my cheeks as they burned the path for the next ones and slid to my neck. I sat down against the wall so I wouldn't fall over, my hands never releasing their grip on my hair. It might have been hours, it might have been seconds. But my body just couldn't handle it. I blacked out with Nico's screams of pain. His screams of anger, fear. His battle cries. All of them ringing in my ears.

 _Piper's POV_

I don't know how to describe it. It's like a hot ball of panic builds itself right next to your heart, pushing away at everything around it and searing a path. Then it moves to your stomach, gets a little larger and destroys everything in it's path. Finally it makes it's way to your brain where it takes over like a living breathing creature. You feel like an earthquake and a volcano at the same time, you feel like the very air you're breathing is killing you. So you struggle to. Maybe it stays long enough to find your memories, once there never letting you go until it's finished, and replay them for you or maybe someone saves you from it and brings you back. But all you can do is hope for the sweet abyss of darkness that comes from passing out. Or maybe just closing your eyes and not seeing anything for once. It killed me to know that that is what happened to Will. It took us twenty minutes to get him out, only for him to pass out right as it stopped. For me the hardest part was watching Nico wrap Will up in his arms and curl his body around him whispering apologies, his tears staining Will's shirt. It was still in his hands, he hadn't even had the time to put it on.

I tuned myself away from the scene, moving as quickly as I could to the back corner of the room. I could read Nico so well that it hurt just to look at him. I could feel the love radiating off of everyone, the guilt and the pain. I just wanted to get away from it all, the distance and closed yes made it a little easier to breathe. I didn't even glance up as I felt someone wrap me up in a hug, the same tingling feeling that normally brushes my skin reassuring me that it was Jason. "It hurts."

All he did was stroke my hair as I pressed my face into his chest, his steady heartbeat helping to even out my breathing. With each small boom, I either breathed in or released the one I was holding. He kissed my head before placing his chin on the same spot. "I know Piper, I know." And he did. Because after the war I had to release my emotions somehow so he offered to share them. I don't know how I did it, but I gave him only a portion of what I was feeling and it almost made him pass out from the brute force. When e asked me how much I gave him, I told him I gave him a fourth of it. Now, even without the sharing, he understands just how powerful human emotion is. And just how much of a toll it takes on me when something is felt so strongly by a large group of people. He never loses it or gets mad when I snap or gets confused when I cry. Because he knows I've finally reached my breaking point.

I finally pulled away and switched our positions. He now had his head in the crook of my neck and it was me rubbing his back. "Everyone's okay. Nico is just scared, they're both fine." I could feel the tears rolling down my shoulder and getting caught in my shirt. "Everything is okay, I promise." And that was all I said as I tried to convince myself of the same thing. Because both of us could feel the tension rising around Thalia and us. It was our turn next, and I don't think I'll be able to handle it. Or if whoever the target is will survive.


	19. Deleted Scene - Have Fun In Math

**Hey Guys. I'm working hard on the next chapter but it might not be done for another week. So, being the wonderful, with writers block, story teller I am, I've decided to give you another hint as to who the ones doing this are. And how, with the monster proof school. And why no monsters have attacked yet.**

 _"Can we kill the next one? I mean it would make this, like totally easy." A clearly feminine voice rang out in the abandoned apartment complex, smiling evilly. She was leaning in the shadows with a dark liquid filling the glass she was holding. "It would make drinking this monstrosity worth it at the very least." She growled, the sound more animalistic than human._

 _A feminine figure appeared with graded papers in her left had and a coffee in her right. The only visible feature was her long blonde hair and the fact that she was a bit on the shorter side. "Maybe. The plans for the next one can be changed...if they save him though we'll get the smaller girl." She moved closer through the shadows and pointed to the glass. "Drink. It's what gets us through the barrier, though being mortal is dreadful."_

 _"Than do something and just kill them off by sending in some dracanae or something. Why do you keep my brothers and sisters away?" The girl then made a face, her lips moving to show off her sharp canine like teeth. "But of course those stupid demigods have fought off armies, they won't do it. Though I'd love to taste the sea spawn again, I like a little salt." She laughed as she chugged the liquid, her teeth forming into human ones and the unnoticeable aura of danger around her disappeared. "See ya at school. Have fun in math."_

 ** _Well wasn't that fun. Message me if you think you know either the monster or the mortals they are faking. The second one might be a little hard because I haven't introduced one of them yet._**


	20. Drowning in Your Love

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Percy Jackson or HOO characters, only Emily and a few minor OCs. I'm glad you guys liked the update, I hope to post sooner after this one than last time.**

 **To Guest who asked for more Connor, his time is coming soon. Wait another chapter or two and he'll have a big role. Just so you guys know, I'm hoping to get to about 35 chapters. I might even have a few ideas for a sequel or two...Who knows, I might wait to wrap up the whole thing til ALL of them are out of highschool...I mean, no demigod can go an entire year without problems, not even regular teenagers can do that.**

 **By the way, I'm having an awful week. Sorry if this chapter sucks, I just wanted to get it posted.**

 _Jason's POV_

I never thought the day could get any worse. I thought fate had a better plan, I thought that the world was kinder and better. That maybe the gods would take pity on us. But of course not, something always has to wrong. It didn't start until after school, but that would be getting ahead of myself.

Being late to class wasn't fun. I had to bolt over to my locker, get the combo wrong four times, scramble to get my stuff in my backpack and sprint to science with Piper and Frank right behind me. As soon as we stepped into the class I got knocked over by a fifty pound ball of fluff that was Maximum, Stacy's dog. She was hypoallergenic so the school let her bring her to school sometimes, granted that she bring her into science. So usually we got a pop quiz on her domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species. "Hey girl. Can you let me up?" I rubbed her head as she climbed off my chest, letting Frank help me up.

Stacy, our science teacher, gave me an apologetic look. She was a nice person, though you wouldn't be able to tell when you first meet her. At first she seems cold and strict with all these rules to follow. She never really smiles at first either. But after a few days you'll start to see a faint smile on her lips while the class laughs at a joke. A while after that it's her making the jokes and making up fun activities for everyone. It was because it took her awhile to trust people I guess, after getting emotionally abused by her ex husband for so long (I asked one of my other teachers). She was really small compared to most of the kids in the class, at least the guys. She was only 5'5, but her hair made up another inch or two. It was extremely curly and went to her lower back if she didn't strangle it into a bun before class like today. She had medium brown hair, light brown skin and color changing eyes like Piper's except her's only changed between brown and green. "I know why you guys are late, I got a text from Elaine...er, Mrs. Marsh." She gestured to our seats which had a piece of paper that let us know it was the same pop quiz we got last month. You'd think the entire class knew by now. But no, didn't happen.

Of course by now I had them memorized but with everything written in English it made my head spin a little. Lucky Frank was just lactose intolerant...I almost cried, 'Hallelujah!' When I saw it was multiple choice. For the first one I just found the one with the right letters and filled in the bubble next to Eukaryota for the Domain. I glanced at Piper who was biting the metal part of her pencil in concentration, on the third question. I went back to my paper as I ran through the list of Kingdoms. It was definitely not a Fungi or Plantae, this one was probably the easiest. Animalia. The Phylum was a little hard since my dyslexia started acting up, messing up the words and blurring them. I flicked my glasses, fixing the blur problem. I gave up and filled in the one that looked closest to Vertebrate. I gave up on looking for Mammalia for her Class, and instead focused on Order which I did quickly because she only gave one that started with a C. Carnivora. I breezed through the last three. Family is canidae, the genus is canis. Canis lupus familiaris. I handed in my test, embarrassed to find almost all of the class was done before me. I sat down in front of Maximum, rubbing her head between the ears while she sighed happily with her tail slapping on the floor.

Piper sat down next to me and rested her head on my shoulder while we played with the large ball of fluff of a dog in front of us. "Hey Maxie, you want a treat?" At that she had to avoid getting knocked over by the overly excited dog before us. "I know, I know. Sit." She held out her hand as soon as Maximum obeyed, before placing one on the ground. She laughed as Maximum bowed, basically doing her own version of downward dog as she grabbed it. I missed Piper's laugh. Hearing it made my heart soar higher in the clouds then I could ever fly and a blush rise to my cheeks faster than Arion could run.

I kissed her cheek before patting Maximum one more time, rising to my feet to resume my spot at my seat. I watched Piper move to her seat, just this once letting my eyes drift to her ass which was fitted perfectly in her jeans. I moved them to the window as I watched more snow start to fall. I sighed, planting my arms on the table so I could use them as a pillow before I actually fell asleep. I wish I never woke up and everything that came next was just a bad dream. But it wasn't. And I really did die.

I basically scarfed down my food before focusing on my homework which I wanted done before I got home so I could take a nap. I was so done with the world, I didn't even comment or tease Nico due to his arm being around Will. I simply stared at the page in front of me and waited for the bell to ring. Maybe I could get out early if I said I was sick. _When did I become one of those people? Guess I'm acting more normal than I originally thought._

Piper yawned as she moved so she was basically sleeping on my shoulder, sighing loudly. "I wanna go home...someone take me." She was whining so her charmspeak had no effect, only making a few of the others glance her way and chuckle.

"Welcome to the club, Beauty Queen." Leo stretched, his back cracking as he leaned backwards over his chair. "I wish a monster would attack, that would be so much better than sitting around bored doing homework." He glanced at his arms before groaning. "I'm even losing whatever muscle I originally had! This weekend, me against you Sunshine. I need to see a pretty face before I die of exhaustion."

Calypso laughed but agreed to his request, blushing at the complement. I guess it was weird for her to be really in love with someone who loved her back with all his heart. I had watched Leo go through so much, which was nothing compared to what he had gone through starting when he was eight. I was really happy for them.

Speaking of the one who made me all mushy like this, I moved my arm around Piper and let her rest her head on my chest as she yawned again. No matter what I at least had her, right? So nothing could touch me. I had one of the most powerful humans in the world in my arms. She had quite literally knocked out mother nature. I kissed her hair as I wrapped myself up in her strawberry shampoo. "I love you.."

Piper sighed happily, snuggling into my chest. "I love you too, but we need to have a real date at some point. It's been too long." She glanced up at me, placing a quick kiss to my lips. Just that small action made me blush. She giggled at my expression, nuzzling her nose into my neck.

I swear if I could get high off of her smell I would be in a rehab center by now, grinning and looking dazed out a window. I leaned my head onto her's, closing my eyes in comfort. All too soon the bell rang, signalling our leave. I groaned against my will, pulling Piper closer.

Way too quickly did she move away, dragging me off to my Trigonometry class. To bad she wasn't in it. "Bye Superman, love you!" She bolted down the hall before I could reply. Being the teenager boy I am, I let my gaze drift to her ass for a second before making my way into math.

A little trivia on the teacher. His name is Ivan Harvey, lets you call him anything respectful when he likes you. He's a bit on the stricter side but not exactly military boot camp, though his hair is army standard. He expects that you follow the rules laid out for you as well as him and everything in the classroom including your classmates. Failure to do this results in having lunch in his classroom for detention for as long as he sees fit. He's in his late twenties and recently got engaged so he's in a better mood most days. "Jason, it looks like you've decided to pull yourself away from McLean long enough to join us." Barely anyone was there but he still made jokes. He was about my height, 6'1 maybe, so he could look me in the eye when he pointed to my seat. "You can sit next to your sister today, just don't electrocute anyone." His dark blue eyes flashing green, a son of Iris thing. Who knew demigods could like math? Well, besides children of Athena.

Thalia smirked at me from her seat. "No matter how much I would love to see little blonde Jason Jrs running around, I don't want to see it anytime soon." She slung an arm around Percy, pinching his cheek. "Neither do I want to see little Jackson's unless it's another cousin." She laughed as he turned red. "That goes for you too Frank! Hazel is my favorite after all!"

Frank sputtered from his spot in the back of the room, only getting worse when the rest of us shouted, "Mine too!" Even worse when I glanced back at him. "Just be glad Nico isn't here."

Of course Frank face planted into the table, groaned and turned redder than the marker Mr. Harvey was using. "You guys are going to be the death of me!" He tilted his head as Katie rubbed his back in comfort. "How do you deal with them?"

Katie looked up over by me with the biggest smile, looking at her dork of a boyfriend. "Years of practice with someone way worse." She then nudged Drew who got Clarisse. "Mind warning miss low cut her man boobs are showing?"

I just about choked. "Did you guys just hear Katie?" According to the laughter coming from my left, my sister at the very least had heard. "Dude, your girlfriend is getting way into acting like an actual mortal girl. She is...the word is Savage, right?"

Travis snorted. "Dude, just stick to being Roman. It's one of the only things you are good at besides looking pretty." He yelped when he got shocked, but otherwise looked fine.

Of course otherwise uneventful, school went amazingly. Besides the part that I got dragged into the pool area while the lights were off while some girl I didn't know kissed me. I shoved her off, wishing I had my glasses so I could see her better. "What the actual Hades?"

"Don't curse gods, hero. They don't like that." And suddenly she wasn't in my line of vision anymore. "You know, kissing you was fun. Maybe the empusa had the right idea..." They was a small pressure on my neck before suddenly I was way too close to the pool for comfort. "Actually, you're taken. And this is more fun..." Hitting my back knocked the air out of my lungs.

It took a few seconds, but I finally kicked off the bottom of the pool. But when my head breached the surface, it was met with a heavy plastic that rubbed my hair the wrong way. "Shit..." There was a thin layer between the water and the plastic meaning I had about three minutes before I drowned.

 _Thalia's POV_

Of course seeing your cousins turn pale and start sprinting down the hallway isn't a good thing. What's worse is when you know they can sense then someone is in danger of dying and your baby brother is missing. So let's just say my day sucked at that point.

I sprinted after them, grabbing Piper on the way. We were supposed to meet outside so she was on her way but when she saw my expression she sprinted right along side me. I was muttering swear words in every language I knew, wanting to scream at the gods to just leave us alone. I finally made it to where they were, my heart dropping to my feet as I realized it was the pool area. "Nico, what's...?" And then I saw Leo working frantically on the lock which seemed to spark whenever he thought he had it. I looked in through the window to find a sheet of clear plastic covering the pool with a body trapped underneath. "Jason!"

Piper was frozen in place, staring at him through the window. Suddenly she snapped out of it and shoved Leo out of the way. She slammed her foot into the door, splintering the wood in one kick. She flinched but didn't stop. I joined in, working with her to beat down the door. We finally broke in, quickly moving over to where the plastic was.

Leo tried his best to move the plastic as quickly as possible, motioning for Nico to help him. As soon as they had passed him, I dove into the water. I used my superior strength to get to him quicker, dragging him back to the side of the pool. He was out cold, but breathing...just barely. "Jason..." _Please don't leave me again..._


	21. Author's Note (PLEASE READ AND REVIEW)

**AN: I know you guys hate these and I am so sorry I'm late. But I am having major writers block and I currently don't have my own computer (until school starts again) so I will have a hard time posting. I just need to finish the next chapter, then I actually have some of the other ones already finished so they'll come faster. If you have any ideas (just little things that could happen in-between the whole saving thing and the end because theres another surprise, NO DEATH) please put them in the reviews. It would help greatly. I love you all, and thank you to whoever read this and those who will write in the reviews. You guys are the reason I love to write.**

 **And because I love you guys...plus I started writing more because I have the whole day to get something written...Here's a sneak peek at the next chapter. I do have more than this but it might be another week before posting.**

Hazel's POV

I always hated the curse that gave me power over precious stones. I never thought I could hate the ones given to me because of heritage, the ones that I deemed useful. But now, watching my cousin's life force slipping between fading and stabilizing as Will tried desperately to save him. It took everything I had no to cry. But I was focused on something else. Nico had grabbed my hand and silently asked for help. Together, we were working with Will to piece back together what remained of Jason's soul. It was like in those sucky old horror movies where the picture is screwy and the monster is clear but you can't really do anything because you aren't...there. That's what it felt like as we tried to gather the pieces. That's what it felt like while the world revolved around us. Until the final part came into play, we couldn't leave. It might have been hours, minutes, or seconds.

"Come on, Jase. Don't you dare leave me again or I will drag you out of Hades by the hair." Thalia's silent sobbing and threats was helping about as much as Piper's charmspeak. Even though she was trying to get him to wake up, only parts of his soul were listening and it was making it harder to find them.

Will was shaking silently in front of us. "Oh please shut up you two! I'm trying to save him and you two blubbering isn't helping! Percy, Frank. Get them out of here. In fact, all of you out!" As everyone started leaving it started getting easier. Like they were blocking my view or something.

I closed my eyes tighter, if that was even possible, and renewed my focus. Nico had gotten alot of the peices back but I could see him slipping. Without his soul, Will's work would be in vain. "Damn it Jason, work with us." I was started to feel tired. Exsurting my powers like this, it wasn't good for me. And then it happened. I found the second to last peice, quickly adding just as Nico did with the one he found. I didn't have time to see if it worked, I passed out.


	22. You Take My Breath Away

**AN: PLEASE DON'T HATE ME! I know I said I was going to be able to post more over the summer, but I've been working and gone with no internet and my dad was trying to stay home a lot so I rarely got the computer...I'm sorry guys. But I did it! I finished the chapter! And if I'm really good I might be able to have the next one up in the next few weeks.**

 _Disclaimer: (I might have stolen this from someone because I thought it was awesome :) )_

 _Roses are red,_

 _Violets are blue,_

 _I don't own PJO/HOO,_

 _Rick Riordan do_

 _Roses are red,_

 _Cookies are blue._

 _I only own the plot,_

 _But I wish I owned them too_

 _Hazel's POV_

I always hated the curse that gave me power over precious stones. I never thought I could hate the ones given to me because of heritage, the ones that I deemed useful. But now, watching my cousin's life force slipping between fading and stabilizing as Will tried desperately to save him. It took everything I had no to cry. But I was focused on something else. Nico had grabbed my hand and silently asked for help. Together, we were working with Will to piece back together what remained of Jason's soul. It was like in those sucky old horror movies where the picture is screwy and the monster is clear but you can't really do anything because you aren't...there. That's what it felt like as we tried to gather the pieces. That's what it felt like while the world revolved around us. Until the final part came into play, we couldn't leave. It might have been hours, minutes, or seconds.

"Come on, Jase. Don't you dare leave me again or I will drag you out of Hades by the hair." Thalia's silent sobbing and threats was helping about as much as Piper's charmspeak. Even though she was trying to get him to wake up, only parts of his soul were listening and it was making it harder to find them.

Will was shaking silently in front of us. "Oh please shut up you two! I'm trying to save him and you two blubbering isn't helping! Percy, Frank. Get them out of here. In fact, all of you out!" As everyone started leaving it started getting easier. Like they were blocking my view or something.

I closed my eyes tighter, if that was even possible, and renewed my focus. Nico had gotten alot of the peices back but I could see him slipping. Without his soul, Will's work would be in vain. "Damn it Jason, work with us." I was started to feel tired. Exsurting my powers like this, it wasn't good for me. And then it happened. I found the second to last peice, quickly adding just as Nico did with the one he found. I didn't have time to see if it worked, I passed out.

Oh stop glaring at me! It's not like I control the universe, or the fates! I'm simply telling you what happened. Yes, Nico and I tried our best. Yes, I over used my powers. But no. I have no idea if he lived or not. Because I had my own problems to deal with. You see, my dad can only talk to me through dreams. So of course when I passed out was the perfect time to tell me something completely unrelated to what was going on.

" _Happy early birthday, Hazel. I know it's next week but I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to contact you then. Anyway, your present will come later but at the moment I need to tell you something important." Of course he took a dramatic pause, he was related to king of dramatics...his little brother. "You all are being hunted or herded or something like that. There is a monster at your school but I don't know who. They've been able to cloak themselves or somehow appear mortal to get through the barrier. That's why all this stuff is happening. It might just be to scare you away so their plans succeed or to weaken you so when they come into effect, you lose the fight. I am so sorry, my daughter. This is all I can give you. I must go now."_

 _I finally found my voice just as he started to disappear. "Dad? Thank you.." I swear I saw him smile as his body dissolved into smoke and dust._

I tried to force my open but as soon as I did I closed them again, wishing to never see again. The world was spinning faster than the planet and it was splotchy like someone took a sponge to a painting. I groaned, feeling seasick all over again.

"Hey, it's okay. Every things fine. Can you look at me?" The voice wasn't the one I wanted to hear, the one at the moment I really needed. But I could feel the now tough muscle of his arms holding me, the smell wafting off his clothes and soothing my rapidly beating heart heart.

I had to force my eyes open, but as soon as they came into contact with Will's worried ones, I bolted into a seating position, accidentally squashing Frank's arm with my thighs. "Is Nico okay? What about Jason? Oh gods, please tell me it worked."

"Calm down Haze, you need to relax." Will was probably right, but the only thing he did was make me angry.

I snarled at him, glaring through a thin curtain of hair that had fallen in front of my face. "You tell me if they are okay right now Will Solace or _your_ jewels won't be the only thing crushed after this."

I thought he would laugh, considering I was tiny compared to him. But he instantly fell backwards and scooched away. "Nico is fine. I'm not crying or over working myself, am I?" He shifted nervously. "But Jason..." He shuttered. "He's stable. That's all I can really say right now, Percy brought him back to camp to rest up. Considering he's still unconscious, he'll be doing a lot of that."

I growled at him before curling back up in Frank's arms, too tired to move anymore. Or threaten anyone else. "I'm tired." I snuggled into Frank's chest, way too 'loopy' to care that in my time this would be like walking around nude in this time. At least, as far as I knew. I mean it would be scandalous but not really arrest worthy. Do you know hard it is to compare two times like this?

"I know. I'm really proud of you, you did good. Just, don't use your powers for a while. You might end up like Nico did and I really don't think you want Nurse Frank to exist." He kissed my cheek as he stood up, walking over to where our friends were. Actually, at this point, they were all family.

Frank heaved himself up surprisingly easily with me in his arms. He put me down, letting me lean on him for support. We met up with the group, trying to figure out why this kept happening. When I repeated what my father said to me, they all seemed to relax. A monster they could do, that was something they were used to. The world seemingly trying to destroy them not only physically, but emotionally and mentally too? Not good. This was still not good but at least they had experience with this. They knew how to handle this. And that just made the feeling in my stomach worse and my eyes prickle with tears.

"Now we just need to figure out who it is. Maybe Jason saw who it was or got a hint, so when he wakes up, and he _**will**_ wake up, we'll get hints from him, at least to who's the actual monster. Figuring out what the monster is, that's going to be harder. It has to be smart, patient and..." Annabeth's eyes widened in realization just as Reyna smacked her forehead. "In control. Maybe the reason we haven't been attacked yet is because whatever this thing is it wants to be the one to beat us. Or an army ready because they can't exactly fight us if we kill all of their soldiers."

Reya nodded. "Or forcing us to leave would be all on it. Besides, with no monsters around would we really have figured this out?" They all shook their heads. "Well then. We have a start. Let's go home, guys."

I would have if I didn't feel sick to my stomach. I said i would meet them outside and kissed Frank quickly so he wouldn't protest. Kind of hard to speak when your lips are covered. I was about to head into the bathroom when I noticed something darting into the shadows. Something...humanoid, but it didn't feel human. "Gotcha."

" **Come on girly, follow me." She giggled as she watched the small demigod following her, her hand placed lightly on her belt which probably hid her sword. "Oh, no need for that. It's my turn to have fun, not yours." She dashed across the hall, trying to be slow enough for her to notice but fast enough that she didn't get any recognizable details.**

 **The girl smirked. "Come on out blondie, I know you're hiding from me." Damn, she saw. Oh well, she could always dye her hair or something or get one of the boys to do it for her in a 'prank' so it doesn't look suspicious.**

" **Blondie? It's that your cute friend, the one I kissed by the pool?" She made her voice lower and gruffer than before so she wouldn't recognize it. "He was so much fun to play with, and I almost got three for one! But no such luck. Well I guess I need something to show mother so you'll have to do."**

 **The girl's eyes widened. "Mother?" She didn't even have time to blink as suddenly she was passed out on the floor while I stood behind her with my stiletto in hand while her head was bleeding from the scratch it gave her.**

" **Yum, I got blood on this one! Come on girly, let's embrace the cliche while you're still asleep."**

When I opened my eyes I was not expecting what I found. I thought I'd be in a lair maybe, my friends around me after winning more likely, or even the low chance of having Charon sigh and saying, "Back again so soon?" What I certainly was not expecting was to be in a janitor's closet with the light turned on.

"What the...?" I tried the door, sighing in relief as it was locked. If it wasn't, I would have been way to confused. I looked around quickly, trying to get my bearings. The door had...something sealing it, so no one would see the light and I couldn't shadow travel because there was nothing else in the room. I looked around for a switch or something to pull for the light to go off but i found nothing. I looked at the ceiling to see if she taped it, but it wasn't there. "Must be an outside one." I stepped in something, jumping a foot in the air. I kneeled down, finding the floor was lightly covered in what looked like oil. Which was flammable. Which meant either breaking the light so I could shadow travel or doing it so I had something to scrape away at the gunk was not going to work. Spark + flamable stuff = fire. Fire + Hazel without Leo or Percy = chared Hazel. I went for my sword only to find it wasn't on me. "Shit." I covered my mouth before realizing I was alone and this was the twenty first century. "Okay, as long as Leo never finds out about that we should be good."

After a few more minutes of looking for a way out, I finally came to an air vent. "Finally." I could reach it if I went onto my tip toes, but just barely. As I looked for a way to get it undone I realized two things. One, I wasn't going to be able to fit through it like in the movies Leo has been trying to get me to watch. Two, it was sealed as well. Which meant if the door and air vent were sealed, I was going to run out of oxygen because none of it could get in or out. Yay me. At least I would last...

I stared as a hole appeared in the thin holding the vent closed. A small tube appeared and I almost wished it was poison gas. Almost. It started sucking all the air out of the room apparently it was big enough to leave no room for air to get inside the closet. I slowly started to feel dizzy, my breathing get heavier as the panic started to set in. I was going to die. I was seriously going to die and I was helpless to stop it.

"Fuck you." Was all I managed to get out before for the second time that day, I passed out.

 _ **AN: Sorry not sorry about the cliffhanger. Anyway, hope you guys liked it! I promise to update ASAP and not put it off for three months...Again.**_


	23. Forgiveness and Sticky Notes

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters, nor do I own the monsters in this story. Only who they impersonate.**

Connor's POV

You see, I'm not used to getting attention. First off, why have the shorter and less handsome version of someone when the better version is right in front of him? That was the one thing that annoyed him about being Travis's almost identical brother. All the girls at camp fell head over heels for him. But it was like Connor never existed. Like I never existed.

Until I met Drew. She strutted into camp with a forged on smile and crying eyes. The first thing she did? Broke her wrist knocking out one of the Ares boys for flirting with her, then turned around and got another in the soft spot for doing the same. Broke down crying in the infirmary when they touched her wrist but it put a smile on my face for a while.

Over the next few years, I learned to understand Drew a little. She liked being in control with guys, she hated not having the advantage but she was possessive. Any girl who went near one of the boys she had wrapped around her finger faced her charmspeak wrath. But for some reason, even though I wasn't one of her toys, I was under her protection in an unspoken way. No girls flirted with me and no guys beat me up. Unless I deserved it.

Till she stopped caring. Suddenly I wasn't under her protection and all of her boys suddenly didn't have anyone to follow around anymore. The girls that once feared her had new freedom and took back their boyfriends. But what no one seemed to notice was when she shut down, how she flinched away from contact, or even snapped if someone tried to help her. She was torturing herself and I didn't know why. So being the idiot I am, I cornered her behind her cabin. "What has gotten into you? And don't pull any of that charmspeak shit on me or I will get Piper."

Apparently that wasn't the right thing to say. "So that she can call me a pimp? So she can say I'm no better than a rapist for what I do with those boys? So she can scream about treating them like human beings instead of..." At this point, she had tears streaming down her face and was choking on her words. "Just leave me alone Connor, you really don't know what you're getting into."

It wasn't until math class that that memory popped up again, forcing him to realize how awful he'd been to her when they'd had their argument. Since then they hadn't talked or even dealt with being in the same room, he didn't really have anyone to chat with during class. Take third period on blue days. He had Advanced Algebra with Piper, Leo, Calypso and Will. Piper and Leo were bro's, same with Leo and Will. Calypso could always talk to Will about healing or Piper about Leo. I was again the odd man out.

That is until our teacher switched my seat with someone else's because they were talking too much. You see, our math teacher was Gina Jensen. She refused to be called Ms, since she was single, but otherwise you could call her anything. Most of us just called her Jensen. She was one of those smart people that graduated early, had her teaching degree and got a place in the school at only 23. But she definitely didn't look or act like that. She was short, only about 5'4, with dead straight blonde hair that she kept up in a thick bun and brown eyes that only had light touches of makeup around them. She was kinda pale with a lot of freckles. Anyway, she was kind of ditzy and forgetful. She had reading glasses but she'd always lose them on her head or forget a pencil that she was holding in her hand that she would the put down to look for. She even flirted a bit with the seniors, since she was barely five years older than some of them. But otherwise she was mega smart with math. Which was the important part.

The girl she had sat me down with glance up at me before going back to her worksheet. Battle training made me observant, as well as a life of pranking scary people, so I had her appearance memorized in my head within seconds along with little things. She had recently gotten her hair dyed dark purple, professional job with how it was even and even reached her roots. She had loose curls, natural with the way she took care of them. They looked like they'd been thrown up in a ponytail a few times recently, probably to keep it out of her face. Most likely biracial with how her skin was light but still had a darker tint to it. Her eyes were a pale blue, kind of like the color you would use for describing ice. She was only about 5'5 but she wore dark heels to mak herself look taller. She had clearly worn them in as they didn't seem to be affecting her. She was ambidextrous but her handwriting was sloppy either way, she mostly used her left when using pencil but typed with her right from the lack of granite marks on that hand. She's gotten a concussion before from the way she held her neck, trying not to strain or stress any muscles in her neck. One more thing. She wasn't born a she. Her features were more defined, heavier than most girls. She was always fixing her shorts, uncomfortable with sitting in the position she had forced herself into by wearing a skirt. She didn't seem to be able to deal with a bra, like it was new thing for her to wear. She was also accentuating the fact that she was a girl too much with a tight white shirt and a black skirt. If anything, I'd say she was at most self conscious but she was almost definitely transgender.

"Mind if I sit here?" I plopped myself down in other guys old seat, before getting to work on the problems she had given us to practice. I could see her glancing at me from the corner of her eye but I ignored it. If she wanted to talk, she had to say so.

Finally she stuck out her hand to shake. "I'm Elizabeth, but you can call me Liz." And that dear reader, is how I made a new friend. Or so I thought.

"Connor! Will you stop that?" Liz was glaring at up through her lashes as I played with her binder while she tried to study. "I'm easily distracted and your ADHD tendencies are not helping my focus." She finally just grabbed my hands and held them still. "Hun, no."

"Hun? Really? Next thing I know you want me to call you baby." I was joking, but I could see the faint blush on her cheeks. I knew she liked me, she was really bad at hiding things. Especially with me. "How about we go over to your house tonight and I will study with you?"

Her eyes lit up but then realization came crashing in. "My dad is away on a business trip, remember? Plus with my mom taking more late shifts...we'd be alone." Oh yeah. Her family was way Catholic and refused to let her be alone with anyone of the opposite sex. I'd met her mom and immediately hated her. She used a metal detector on me, asked me to empty all my pockets (she didn't want me to have condoms) and went ballistic when I swore in greek.

"What kind of language is that? No good Catholic would speak like that." She was glaring at me through her false eyelashes and thick makeup. "What church does your family go to? When can I meet them if you're going to be interested in my daughter?"

"I'm not interested in your daughter, I want to be friends with her. That's it. Now if you want to know about my family, google me. Oh and I'm Greek, not Catholic"

Not my best introduction. Haven't met her dad but I don't think I want to. Anyway, I had very few options here. I could take her to the apartment and her mind would be completely blown and she's freak, plus what the others would do, or he could just hang out at the library and have to walk home. That worked. "Why don't we just stay here? It'll be so much easier and it gets quiet after school."

"Okay, that works. I have to get to my last class, see you around?" When she left, I felt my breathing relax. I knew I was only freaking out because if she said no that meant we were going to be stuck at my house, usually I could breath easier with her around. Like there was no judgement. No asking for more, no lines to fall between.

A mirrored image plopped it's slightly taller self in front of me with a prankster grin. "So, it appears my baby bro has a new girlfriend. When do I get to meet her?" As he waited for a response, I simply went back to studying. "Come on, dude. I gotta meet the new woman in your life."

"It's none of your concern. We aren't dating, we're friends. I can have female friends without wanting to date them when I'm single." I knew that hit a sore spot, but I needed it to be said. I didn't even look as he got up from my table and left.

Of course my brother never kept anything from Katie. So I was expecting her, sooner actually, when she plopped down in his old seat with a glare. "What did you do to your brother? He's moping." Who could have guessed? It's my fault.

"Hello Katie, you're late. I expected you five minutes ago." I glanced up at her with my most charming smile before my gaze dropped back down to my note book. "I simply pointed out that I don't date all of my female friends when he assumed I had a girlfriend because I was talking to a girl of the female part of the species simply because she wasn't a taken demigod." I finished with my notes, switching to a different subject. "And before you ask, my class was cancelled because the teacher got food poisoning at lunch. You are only here on a bathroom pass, so I'd get back."

Katie stood up but kept her hands on the table. "You're being an ass, Connor. Maybe you should grow up and realize not everything is about you." Of course that coming from Katie was such an inspiring speech.

I smiled at her without it reaching past my lips. "And maybe you should be that independent woman you always act like you are. Not everything revolves around my big brother, Katie. We all exist too." I grabbed my stuff and walked away from the table, finding my own secluded corner to study in. Sometimes I wished that she had never started dating him or that I was born an only child. But then I would realize I would be a completely different person, and I was happy with who I was. With a few bugs in the system. And I'd be stuck in this never ending loop of war, shorter periods of peace, war on a bigger scale, forever. Yay me.

"Okay now you're distracting me!" I glared playfully at her while she flipped back and forth through her textbook with nervous energy. "I've got ADHD and you making so much motion is not helping my concentration! It's like leaving me in a room with a bunch of bouncy balls and a dictionary, expecting me to read the dictionary!"

"Who on earth would read the dictionary? Besides Annabeth." Of course she knew of my other friends. Never met them but knew of them. And vise versa. My friends knew of her, never met her. It was easier that way, keeping them separate.

I snorted, but I was smiling more than I had in awhile. "Nah, she's already memorized it." She laughed making her eyes lit up and little smile lines appear next to her eyes. I almost blurted out that she was really pretty when she smiled, but I knew that she might take it as flirting. "I like it when you smile. I rarely get to see it."

"Always around you though." Liz blushed but gave me a slight nod. She understood my meaning. I had made it clear to her I wasn't interested in her as anything but a friend, though I understood she liked me. I tried not to stroke the fire, she tried to rein in her feelings.

Suddenly we weren't alone at our table in the back. Standing in front of us was none other than the new girl. She was a complete bitch but she was one with style. She never got less than a B+ on a test, was in Key Club, theater and did sports. Perfect students, right? Besides gathering intel on every student in the school and using it as blackmail. She was tall, slender, sleek dark hair and a charming smile. Never would have guessed all her grades were fake and she was a complete psycho. But the one hitch, the one thing that was screwing her up, was us. The demigods. She couldn't quite figure us out. And it was killing her. Obviously all the girls hated her, the boys were all in relationships, there was no way in. Except me. But I was a last resort. "Hiya handsome, you got any plans this weekend besides working a little of your devious magic?"

"Yeah, I have work. Than I have to do homework because some people actual do their own..." Then an idea popped into my head. "Then of course my friends and I are having a party. VIP list only of course...Liz here, some of their friends. I could get you on the list...for a price..." Of course I was literally just laying out bullshit because, why the hell not? I hated her and she was coming to me.

Suddenly she was very interested in what I had I had to say. Of course a party with the demigods was something no one would have gotten invited too and one at our house? Forget it. "Oh, I'd do anything..."

"Okay then. First, you're going to have to do something about those grades. Get them with your own work and we'll be getting somewhere. Then that nose of yours, it's going to have to stay out of other people's business. Your personality is going to need little rewiring, you got a few too many bitch switches on." I laughed as she stormed away, looking like her face spet a few to many minutes in the tanning bed.

A few minutes later...

"A party, huh? Looks like my child is going to need to fight harder to get into it. Failure is not tolerable at this point." She moved so she could look out the window at the demigods, her smile widening as she took in the tension. "Took you long enough to arrive."

Her child moved to next to as they watched them pretend they were normal. "I'll get into that party, it'll be fun messing with them. I might even bring something to slip into it..." She looked over to find her child holding a bottle of Vodka.

She smiled brightly. "Sonny, I knew I picked you for a reason."

"WHAT?!" Everyone else looked completely horrified but Annabeth, Piper and Rachel looked ready to kiss me. Of course telling the bitch of the school that there was going to be a party at our place with all our friends wasn't the greatest idea, but still.

Piper glared at them. "I think it's a perfect idea! It makes us seem more normal. With someone finding Hazel passed out in the closet barely breathing, the thing with the halloween dance, the Greek class and barely any of us having any friends outside this group, we don't seem to fit in as much as we'd like. A party might make it easier."

Rachel nodded encouragingly. "Plus, we get to invite whoever we want since no one can get in without our consent. We'll make everyone at school jealous, meaning everyone will be nice to us so they can get in on this party."

"Not only that, but we can rule people out. If something happens at the party, we know it was someone invited." Annabeth then turned to Percy and tilted her head. "Percy?" Since Percy was leaning in the kitchen doorway, no one could see her face.

But we could see Percy's. His blush ran from his hairline to his collarbone and he was biting his lip. "Fine, we can have a party. But!" Before anyone could get excited, he held up a hand. "We need to agree on who's coming, how many people are coming, all that. Besides," He looked up with an evil grin. "If we're going to throw a party, we're doing it right."

Cue hours of chaos, involving dividing responsibilities. The chef's of the house were on food, buying ingredients, plates, cups and stuff like that. The rest of the girls were figuring out stuff like how many people to invite, invitations and stuff while the rest of the guys were coming up with lists of people to invite.

So far it was Mariana, Amoly, Anthony, Amanda, Liz, some people from the sports teams and two girls from the cheerleading squad. They decided to stop there, we didn't want to piss off the supervisor of the building. According to Rachel, he was mean when he was mad.

"You're serious." Liz was staring at me from across the table. She suddenly got the biggest smile as I confirmed that, yes, she was invited to the party. She was the whole reason we were having it anyway. For the rest of the day all she could talk about was the party and how excited she was.

Drew's POV

"Stupid, conceited..." I knew it was childish to throw a tantrum but I hated the idea of those mortals in a place I actually kind of felt accepted. These people were the heroes, the ones everyone looked up to. They would protect and save, Leo, Jason, Hazel and Thalia even died trying to save the ones they loved, Annabeth, Percy and Nico feel into Tartarus for those they loved...everything they did was for love. So maybe, they could love me...

But no. That stupid girl Liz came in and everyone started fighting, no one had time for anyone else and he didn't have time for me...The one person who always smiled at me, had time to train or help with my homework...ignoring me. Or unable to spare a second. So that was why I had a right to throw a tantrum, alone in my room.

Of course guests would be arriving in a few hours, so everyone was bustling about. Since no one would be using the bathroom, I snuck in a long shower. I let the hot water incase my skin, turning it a light shade of pink as I washed myself off. I rinsed through my hair before finally turning off the water with a sigh, making my way sneakily back to my room in a bathrobe. Living with a lot of other people had it's downsides. I stripped in front of the mirror, leaving me in only the bra and underwear shorts I had brought with me to the bathroom. Thighs that made it impossible to find good skinny jeans, they were always too big for the ones that looked good, a flat stomach with slight muscle tone that girls shouldn't have. At least girls like me, the others somehow made it work. I tried to get my hair to dry, but my mother must have been mad at me or something because it kept fighting me. I let it go out of frustration, only for it to be suddenly fix it's self into my old hair style. In seconds, I was looking at my older sister. Buzz cut on the right side with long hair on the left. I felt tears sting my eyes as I ran a hand over my reflection, staring into the face of the girl I used to think of as a mother. "Felicity..." I turned away from the mirror and forced away my tears.

"Mother, you are cruel. She might not have been your daughter, but she is my blood." I sorted through my stuff, finding one of her old dresses at the bottom of a pile. "You have got to be kidding me."

Apparently she wasn't kidding as nothing else would fit. I was forced to wear her dress, her old leather jacket and her style of make up that wouldn't come off. I refused to look in the mirror, instead covering all of the ones in my room as I awaited the right moment to appear at the party. I could hear it going on in full swing, I'm pretty sure Travis and Katie left to their room though.

I made my way down the stairs to find everyone having the time of their lives. The children of the big three were having the time of their lives by kicking everyone's butts in am wrestling, Piper was doing karaoke with Lou Ellen and Will, while their significant others looked on in embarrassment and pride. Chris and Clarisse were making out on the couch, and for some reason I smelled alcohol. "POLLUX!" I stormed over to the boy groping a guy from the swim team, much to the mortals pleasure. "You brought drinks?"

He paused a moment to face me. "Sorry, it's just me. They haven't actually consumed anything." He went back before looking at me again. "But you might want to save your boyfriend from that girl, she's looking handsy."

I turned to find Connor and Liz dancing rather sexily, but he was stumbling a little. The little light weight. I made my through the gangs of mortals until I reached them, barely getting to see her try and kiss him but him solving her off. "I told you, I like someone else."

Not even bothering to say anything as I dragged him up the stairs and up to his room. "Alright, who is it? You said you have a crush on someone yet you seem to completely forget that fact when I ask. So what. Is. happening?" I let some charmspeak slip into my words as I stared him down.

"I like you okay! I love the way you laugh at the stupidest jokes I make, and how you end up squinting your eyes so you fall over. I love how your nose scrunches when you taste something, I love how you fight based on their attire, going for open spots and straps on armor." Connor reached out and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. "I love how your eyes hold the very air I breathe and the earth I walk on. So yeah, I like someone. But can you blame me for struggling to tell you?"

I don't know when I started crying, but I was. And I couldn't have been happier. "I like you too." I grabbed is face and planted a kiss on his forehead and each cheek. "You should go back to the party, I've had enough excitement for one night." I moved away from him and practically danced back to my room. "Thank you, mom..."

 **Author's Note: Hi, sorry for not updating. I apologize for not doing this sooner. There's a hint in here to who the monsters are and who they impersonate. The latter of which is harder. If you get it, message me privately or review. I will only privately confirm or deny theories. There are gong to be 16 more chapters, roughly, in this story. I love y'all and am extremely happy for your reviews and consideration! I am also thankful for those who tried to give me ideas to bring back my motivation for the story. But just remember, _constructive_ _criticism_ is always welcome. **


	24. Heartache to Headache

**Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HOO characters, nor do I own the story of Calypso as described by Rick. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go finish a chapter because I might actually have it done before a month goes by since my last update.**

 **(Takes place during the NFL season. So this is in like, February)**

 _Chris's POV_

"Come here, I have to tell you something." I was sitting on the bed as she moved over to me, situating herself between my legs. "I love you." She rolled her eyes but she gave me a quick kiss in return. "Say it back, say it."

Clarisse shook her head and, though she would refuse to admit it later, squealed as I pulled her onto the bed with me and climbed on top of her. "Don't you..." She started laughing and thrashing as I tickled her, trying to shove me off with no actual intent.

This was my Clarisse, the one who laughed with no reservations or malice in her voice, the one who leaned into small touches and sometimes she relinquished control. Like now, she wasn't forcing me off like we both knew she could. She was letting me. Before she could surrender, I grabbed our hands and linked fingers, pinning her to the bed. I started working on her neck, making her twitch beneath me. I knew it was her weakness and she knew what I wanted. But she was going to let me for just a little while longer.

"Fine, I love you too." She sighed underneath me, but started shifting when I didn't stop. "Chris..." Her voice was getting weaker as she struggled to get me to pay attention to something else, till I found her sweet spot right under her jaw. A little gasp escaped her mouth, meaning I could pull away. "What? No fair."

I smirked down at her. "You told me you wanted to..." She flipped us over and silenced me with a heated kiss that I was not going to complain about. This is what I liked about coming to school here, there was no cabin mates in interrupt us.

"Dude, you getting pumped for the big game this weekend? Going to impress all the lovely ladies?" Ben asked next to him, wiggling his eyebrows in Nyssa's direction. Of course she was fiddling with something underneath the table, not paying attention to him in the least till she put whatever it was on the table. As it turned out, it was a miniature pegasus which flew over to me, landing in my hand. "Dude, no fair. You've got a girl."

It quickly spilled out a note wishing me luck on my game before flying over to Reyna. "I do and I am not at all interested in Nyssa. There is nothing stopping you from asking her out, except the fact that she doesn't want a relationship."

Ben rolled his eyes, making the blue in them go slightly lighter for a second. "Fine, whatever you say. I can't believe you don't have more girls fawning over you in that group, or _want_ them to be fawning over you. I mean, all those girls are extremely hot." What's stopping them? I fought for Kronos, went mentally insane for a little while, am dating the head counselor of the **Ares** cabin, and according to one of the assholes in our class, am about as strong as a toothpick. So fawning worthy.

I pointed my thumb over to Percy and Annabeth who had the exclusive right to show PDA in this class due to their panic attack. Plus, Sally wrote them a note. Annabeth was currently sitting on his lap writing down notes while he braided her hair for her. "Yes, I totally expect Annabeth to fawn over me when she has Percy, want Katie to break my brothers heart and try to woo me," said girl was making his pencil move to it was impossible for him to fling it at anyone, "Or of course have Thalia want me. You do realize why there are only people from our friend group sitting around her right now, right? Because she would kill anyone else 'cause they annoy her too much."

Before Ben could retort, our teacher turned around to look at us. "Since you both like to talk so much in my class, how about either of you tell us about Calypso from the story of Odysseus?" He raised an eyebrow at us, practically giving us the only teacher allowed glare.

I stood up and held out a hand for everyone to be silent. "Listen closely now, for I am going to tell you the tale of Calypso. The one you never learned." I looked at Percy and Annabeth out of the corner of my eye, relaxing as they both nodded. "Calypso was the daughter of Atlas, a titan who fought against the greek gods and was punished by the gods by being forced to hold up the sky. He was cruel and manipulative, so I think we can all agree that his punishment was warranted. But his daughter Calypso, who simply went with her teaching and didn't fight with the gods or the titans, only saying "okay, go have fun taking over the world while I get left here", was punished harshly. The gods hated that this titan spawn didn't support them. Didn't she know it was the gods or death? But you can't kill an immortal in the literal sense, so they did the next best thing. They sentenced her to an island that was obscured from anyone's view. No one could find her. But that wouldn't be enough punishment, would it? So Aphrodite put a curse on her to fall in love with whoever came to her island. The gods sent the wounded, the dying and the sick. But only those who had to leave her. Odysseus who had a wife and child to return to, other heroes who were in the middle of battles or wars. Or others who had nothing else to live for but what was outside her island. Maybe one hero decided to stay, maybe one decided to free her. But we'll never know."

One of the kids in our class piped up after my perfect storytelling, the most I'd probably ever said in class. It was worth it to see the gobsmacked expression on Mr. Andrew's face. "But didn't Calypso force Odysseus to stay with her with magic? She knew of his family and she still forced him to stay with her." I couldn't remember the kid's name, but I wanted to punch the smug look off his face anyway.

"Oh, because it's always the woman's fault." Thalia glared at him from her seat. "If I remember right, Odysseus was the one to write the story. And what did he talk about in that story...all the women he had sex with besides his wife! He wanted sex, even raped to get it. So here's this young girl, who might be hundreds of years old but looks seventeen, and she's in love with him. Wants him to stay. Want to know what keeps him from demanding to get off the island? He broads every day and then has sex with a girl who looks half his age. Back then, if you had a kid who was maybe like one or two, it meant you were like nineteen or twenty. Ten years at war means by the end of it, he's like thirty. Spends a few years at sea, so by the time he reaches Calypso he's thirty two or thirty three. Then for _seven_ years he has sex with her every night. It's promised to keep him here. Now by the seventh year, he's almost forty. She's still a teenager. Now a days, you have sex with someone who is 17 when you're forty, people get pissed. So why don't we with Odysseus? Because to explain it to us in a way that blames the impressionable, **cursed by the gods** , teenager, he says she forced him to stay. The gods saved him. And everyone says he's a hero."

I had retaken my seat and was grinning cheekily at the teacher as he sputtered about this not being debate class, but we were saved from him as the bell rang signaling early block was over. I saluted Mr. Andrews as I walked out, laughing as he turned redder than Clarisse's cabin. I slung an arm around said girl as we paraded through the halls with pride. "Ah, what a beautiful day for a little...Chemistry."

Clarisse rolled her eyes at me before planting a quick, almost unnoticeable kiss on my cheek. "I'm only doing that because I have to tell you something and I'm buttering you up." She slipped away from me, using the walk Silena had taught her to get my attention off what she said and onto the way her hips were moving.

I blinked quickly and raced after her. "What do you mean? Claire, you can't just say something like that, do something like that..." I smacked her butt lightly before moving my hand to her hip so no teachers would notice. "Without an explanation."

She was cut off from answering as she made her way into our Chem class, sitting down in her seat between Hazel and Lou Ellen. Of course sophomores usually aren't in Senior classes, but with Hazel and Nico being extremely well experienced in most of the elements and their reactions, plus Lou Ellen and Cecil having used a few of them for her magic pranks...they were the exception. I pouted slightly, much to Clarisse's happiness, as I was forced to slink to my seat in the back with Rachel and Nico.

Chem went by without a hitch, besides Hazel bolting forward as to stop a kid from dropping some kind of metal into the water mixture we were working with. "No, that is not what we are using. Do you want to have glass shatter everywhere and possibly mar your partner's face because they were watching so closely? I know you love to stare at them, but do please pay attention."

Suddenly people were starting to notice not just us, but the sophomores and juniors. People started whispering in the halls about Hazel and Nico, how old fashioned they were. They started whispering how weird it was that we hung out with all these younger kids when we could have "actual friends."

It was really funny when at lunch, most of the siblings were next to each other. My brothers and I were planning a major prank on this guy we had started becoming friends with, this was his initiation. The cousins were all joking around and throwing food at each other, Leo and Nyssa were talking shop, Piper and Drew were talking about a new movie coming out and how excited they were, Clarisse and Frank were talking wrestling and how annoying it was that Clarisse might not get on the team 'cause she's a girl. It was a good time, till some douche had to ruin it.

He moved himself so he had moved right between Thalia and Jason, with Nico on her other side. "Hey baby, I know you're a bit of a prude but I think I can make it worth your while. I know you got no adult supervision at your place, I'll meet you there?" His smirk showed he was either used to getting a blush and a yes or justgetting ignored. He was no prepared for Thalia.

Thalia shoved him off, growling lightly. "Back off, I'm just not interested in idiots and assholes." She glared at him, her hands tensing as her veins looked abnormally blue under her skin. She was holding back on electrocuting him, something I doubt Mama Annabeth would approve of.

"Come on baby, I thought girl's like you liked it rough." I couldn't see it, but I could guess from her cousin's expressions and Hazel hiding suddenly in Frank's shirt and fanning herself that he had grabbed something under the table that was not her leg. _Oh gods, please keep the teachers away. I want to see this guy get fried._

Thalia looked ready to kill him, but Jason was on him before she could even move his hand. He slammed a fist into his jaw so hard, I was expecting him not to get back up. "Don't ever touch her again, you hear me?" His hair was slowly standing up on end, his eyes flashing dangerously.

Piper tried to get out of her seat to stop him, but Drew held her back. "Any guy who touches a girl like that when she doesn't want him to deserves to get hell unleashed on him from her family. You have a few years to go before you officially are." Something passed in her eyes as she looked at Piper, an understanding passing between them.

The guy stood back up, touching his jaw gingerly. "Nice hook. But I thought you already had a girl to fuck with?" His eyes smiled as Jason took another swing at him, this one he dodged by the inch. "Fine, if this bitch is off limits, I'll take the old fashioned version, bet she's used to being tied up." He gestured to Hazel who refused to look up, but Frank was tensing.

Nico was suddenly up too, his eyes going completely black as his voice dropped to a dangerous low. "What did you just say?" No one could really tell with how much he slouched, but he had hit a growth spurt with all the nutrients Will was forcing down his throat. He was now less than a head shorter than me and Percy, he was almost 5'7. So now, when he raised himself to his full height, he could glare the kid in the eyes. "You don't get to touch her. You don't even deserve to speak to her." He shoved him hard, making him stumble into a chair. "You hear me?! You don't get to talk that way to either of them."

I suddenly recognized him as one of the juniors who thought they were cool because they smoked pot and wore leather. I leaned back, glancing at the girls to see if they were okay. They looked a little shaky, but more from anger than anything. I knew the entire table wanted to rip this guy apart, but we weren't needed. With the way he was talking, even the entire school wouldn't be able to take down the cousins, _that_ was how angry they were.

As he spouted more obscenities, a crowd started forming. Percy finally stood up too with his wolf stare on, matching the looks on the other boys faces. "Stay away from our family and shut that shithole you call a mouth." Now Percy had gone from being the chill guy he was to looking like ice ran though his veins and the screams of the damned quieted when he was around.

Even though the guy seemed to be regretting his decision, he still unleashed a round of punches on them to seem brave. Or just stupid. Pretty soon he was knocked out on the floor, with some of his friends finally pushing through the crowd to come to the rescue. Really bad mistake. Even if there were more of them, with the anger radiating off of the guys right now, nothing could stop them. Not even a god.

A sharp whistle broke through the air as everyone turned to look at Annabeth and Reyna. "What's going on here? This is lunch, correct? Not fight club. Everyone back to your seats or detention with Paul Blofis will be on _all_ your schedules." Now, I know you're wondering why they thought this would work. I mean, they were students, weren't they? But you see, Reyna was head of student council. So she held sway in the school and with the teachers. But one of her other jobs was showing new faculty and students around the school. Annabeth was currently dressed professionally in fake glasses (as to explain why she couldn't read as well, she could just cite the fact that she didn't have her glasses on), a pencil skirt and a blouse. Between that, walking with Reyna and the fact that everyone is paranoid, not willing to take the chance, the crowd dispersed. She walked over with her arms crossed as she nudged the unconscious asshole with her foot. "Hazel, what happened?" Her voice was calm, butt she clearly wasn't happy with them.

"That guy came over and was flirting with Thalia, we thought nothing of it because all that would happen was Thalia would turn him down and be done. But then, he moved back and um..." She was turning red. "Touched her inappropriately. Jason punched him, he started talking about certain things that really shouldn't be said at all and the Nico got up when he started talking about me and then when he wouldn't stop, Percy told him to back off and well...you can see what happened." She was calmer now but was shaking her head. "Though I don't agree with the method, I'm very thankful he finally just shut up."

"Yeah, the guy deserved it and they gave him a lot of chances to back off. We're just lucky Thalia didn't get into the mix because she might have killed him." I looked Annabeth in the eye, an understanding passing through the table. You can't stop those five from defending each other, as much as you try. They know when to leave it be, and if all of them say it was justified, you know someone fucked up _**bad**_.

Annabeth sighed, sliding into her spot with Percy. "Fine. Try not to get into too many fights." She started talking quietly with Thalia but otherwise, we all relaxed. She even tripped the kid as he started to get up to walk away from us. No one messes with family.

"Dude, I heard what happened in the cafeteria. I get why'd you guys would be mad, but I don't get the whole thing with only the three of them getting up to sock the guy." Ben was fixing his shoes by the bench as we waited to start runs.

I snorted. "I'm surprised they didn't do more damage. I mean, I know Jason is her younger brother but still, he got so pissed." When I saw his expression, realization dawned on me. "Jason is Thalia's younger brother. Nico and Hazel are half siblings and the five of them are all cousins. You guys didn't know this?" When he shook his head, it suddenly made sense. No one really got the connections. I ran down the family trees, at least with siblings.

"Okay, okay. Let me get this straight. Almost all of you are related to someone else in the group?" When I nodded, he relaxed in the jog we had started at. "Oh, this makes so much more sense. If you guys are all siblings, you kind of don't need parent supervision, you got their protective older or younger sibling pounding on your door to make sure you don't do anything." _Sure, but whatever. Go on._ "I thought your parents just let a bunch of friends room together."

I shook my head. "Trust me, our parents know we're responsible." _And they owe for saving the world from not only Kronos but Gaea. But, whatever._ For the rest of practice, everything went smoothly. We did laps (no extra ones for once), did weights and exercises, went through some plays and got let off a little late since our big game was in four days, but it was fine. We didn't care. I dropped my bag next to Claire, giving her a quick kiss. "So. I was hoping for some Chef time, think I could help with dinner tonight?"

Clarisse gave me a sheepish look, one I knew well. I had already guessed it before it came out of her mouth, but it still stung. "I'm leaving after we get home, there's some stuff going on at camp. I'm really sorry, but I'm not going to be at your game."

 _Clarisse's POV_

I stared at the building as I paused from pulling out of the parking lot. I couldn't see it, but I knew Chris was watching me from one of the windows. I turned away, revving the engine as I made my way back to camp.

"What was so important that I had to come back for this?" I snapped at Chiron as I paced on the porch in front of him. I could feel his confusion and his annoyance. "The guys championship game is this weekend and I'm going to miss it." I tried not to glare at the old centaur, but I wasn't happy. And when I'm not happy, everyone usually knows.

He folded his hands in his lap. "Are you quite finished?" I was surprised at his tone, but nodded. "I need to know everything that has happened to you all and who was at the party. Annabeth has informed me of the overview but I need details. She suspects someone at the party of being a monster, the one who is causing all this." With that, he motioned for me to follow him into the Big House. This was going to be a long few days.

"No, this is how you do it. Twist and throw your weight into your hand so they're forced to drop it. Try again." I moved so I was facing the younger camper, going in only to suddenly not have a sword in my hand, but one pointed at my open chest. "Good job, you got it kiddo." I reached over and ruffled his hair as he grinned up at me. "Alright, go get the rest of the boys. I want you to do a demonstration with me."

Quinn looked so excited, he almost forgot to give me back my sword. He was a cute kid, but he was smaller than a lot of the other fifth graders in camp. He had come here nervous because his mom forced him into a dress that he had to wear as he crossed the border, but we all kind of made it a running joke that involved that one summer with the centaur in the dress. He fit right in, and never had to introduce himself as a her as long as he was in the borders. Made him happy.

"Clarisse! You have to get back to Goode, Chiron says he got a message from Rachel. She thinks something going to happen at the game tonight. She hasn't told anyone else because it might cause panic but since you think you know who it is..." An out of breath camper just had time to watch me bolt over to my cabin before walking over to the water bin. "I'll just be here, not breathing."

I practically stampeded through the cabin, grabbing everything I needed before slinging the one backpack I had brought onto my back. I shifted my new spear into my necklace, slung my sword into its sheath. I didn't even say goodbye to anyone as I raced to the bottom of the hill and found my bike next to the camp vans **(AN: I still have no idea where they store those things if there isn't a road up the hill to camp)**.

I'm not proud of what I did next, speeding like a maniac into New York. Chris would have killed me. But at that moment, I didn't care. I didn't care that I was sweaty from training, or that I was only dressed in spandex, a loose shirt and sneakers. I was freezing, but the armor was helping cut the wind chill. I was getting to that game, I was going to make sure nothing touched them. "Oh, come on. Why did couldn't they just wait until I got there?" I was almost there...almost there.

As I pulled into the school parking lot, I literally jumped off the bike and let it park itself as I bolted for the football field. I had to make it, I had to make it. I bolted by the concession stand, up the hill and to the end of the stands. I watched as it happened, and I couldn't stop it. It was like I was watching in slow motion, like one of those action scenes in a movie. But this wasn't a movie.

Chris was bolting for the end zone but the ball was going to land short so he had slowed down a little, giving two of the other players enough time to catch up to him. Giving one of them enough time to tackle and for one to reach out for the ball. As he went down, his head caught on the other player's knee, his eyes rolling up into his head.

I waited. I waited for him to get up. But as the game went on he wasn't getting up and people were starting to notice. Frank and Jason broke away and ran over to him, quickly checking for life. Frank whistled and the entire game stopped as Will bolted from the stands over to them. "No, no."

I was there faster than I could process, kneeling next to them as Will checked him over. "What happened? Aren't these helmets padded at...?" I grabbed the helmet, growling as I watched the mist disappear from around the helmet. There was no padding in it, at all. They had gotten to him.

Will was shooing the guys away as he looked him over. "Okay, he's breathing okay but he'll have a concussion." He looked at me, nodding as Frank and I picked him up without hesitation. "Let the mortal medics take him, this isn't an injury I should be involved in."

As we watched him disappear into the ambulance, I closed my eyes and prayed. To every god, I could think of I guess. _Let him come home. Let him be okay. I really need him to be okay._


	25. Knowing And Wanting

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO characters. Only this specific plot.**

 **AN: I updated on time last time! Yay me! Oh and I did it at midnight so don't get mad if it sucks. I'll fix it at some point.**

 _Annabeth's POV_

He knew, he always does. He simply just grabbed my hand, a jacket and some shoes. "Come on, we're going for a walk." When I asked where, he simply smiled at me in a way that made everything disappear. "You'll just have to come along to find out, won't you?" He slid on his own outwear, taking my hand as we stepped into the elevator, sneaking out before anyone else was awake.

As we walked down the streets of New York, he swung our hands between us slightly like children. He had the biggest smile and looked like a kid in a candy shop as he led me around. I was starting to recognize where we were slightly, but I didn't know why until Percy paused in front of a tall apartment building that looked like it had been hit by it's fair share of hurricanes. By now, we had been walking around for maybe an hour or so, I wasn't paying attention. "Percy?"

"This is my old building, before my mom went back to college, before she found Paul..." He looked at it without love, maybe a slight bit of anger. "If you remember, the wanted posters of me had a picture from this building on it. My old step father was the one who had posted it..."

I held his hand tighter, pulling him closer to me in the process. I remembered it then, picturing this scrawny kid trying to hide wanted posters, watching as his step father told everyone he killed his mom on tv. What had hit me the most was that he didn't seem surprised, only disappointed. And then there was the time I spied on him in his room, but I didn't want to remind him of that. I let him talk, knowing he would end up just shrugging it off and focusing on me like he usually tries to do. (The topic of his past has come up a few times while we've been together).

He looked down at me with such love it made my heart flutter in my chest. "Come on, I want to show you..." He froze in his tracks as he saw someone walking down the street towards them, going through a bag as the walked. "We should leave..."

When they looked up, it was clearly an older woman. She would have been in her early twenties from the look of her, but she seemed to recognize Percy. She froze in her tracks too, before a wide grin escaped her and she bounded over to us. "Percy? Percy Jackson?" He nodded slightly, making her put a hand to her lips for a second. "You've grown. I remember when you and your mom moved out a few years back, I helped Sally move all the boxes while you were in school. And I was so glad she kicked that asshole Gabe out."

"Yeah, my mom actually remarried. Good guy, English teacher at the high school." Anyone else would have thought he was actually happy to tell her this information, but it looked more like reassurance to me. "Only drinks when my mom does."

The woman relaxed a little, making me realize she had been holding in a breath. "I'm glad. I have to go, I'm actually just paying the last of the money I owe Eddy before I go..." She flinched as she said the name, but quickly covered it up. "I'd get going, the guys will be coming out soon. Still have their poker games and can't play if I don't pay up for the last of my rent. Then I'm out."

"I'm gad. Goodbye Cassy." And when he said it, it sounded like a good thing. It return he got another smile, a genuine one, before she disappeared into the building. Percy just started walking again, taking me through streets with unfamiliar signs and people, but apparently not to him. He moved with ease, like he was walking home. He even nodded to a few people, pulled me under his arm as we passed others, till we made it to this little candy shop nestled onto the street. "My mom used to work here."

I walked in with him, and he was suddenly back to normal. We grabbed all the blue candy we could find, laughing as we picked out a few other ones we liked. I paid at the counter as a treat for Percy, pausing to sit on a bench outside the shop, sharing the bag.

"Cass was a sophomore in college, she needed a cheap apartment and a place to crash. So she moved in next to us. Well, more like got handed the apartment. Her older cousin used to live there while he went to college, so she just kind of moved in when he moved out. She used to take care of me when my mom was at work during the summer, but she couldn't do it everyday. Gabe used to be such an ass to her, grabbing at her when she would walk me in, making sure I made it to my "room". I'm glad she's leaving, she deserves better."

I simply nodded, popping a few jellybeans into my mouth. A small gasp escaped my mouth, making me blush slightly. "These are really good," I explained. He started laughing at me, making me whack his shoulder.

"I love you." He kissed my forehead before quickly takes the last reese's cup and biting it in half. As I tried to protest, he shoved the other half onto my tongue so I would shut up. "Sorry, but you got to know by now I share everything with..." He suddenly stood up, holding his hand out for me. "Come on."

Apparently we were stopping in his apartment, because we made our way to his building. We didn't speak, not until we opened his door. We chatted with Paul and Sally, till Percy held out the bag of candies to his mom with a question in his eyes. His mom nodded, a steely expression I didn't realize she could make falling over her face. He lead me to his room, closing the door quietly behind himself as I sat down on the bed. "What do you know about my life before I knew I was a demigod?"

And so I sat there, trying to come up with anything. So I just looked at him and proceeded to just watch as Percy unraveled before me. The knots in his muscles, the tightness in his lips...As he told me about his life growing up with Sally, I watched him relax in every definition of the word. Until he got to when she met Gabe. It was like rewinding a tape and watching all your progress go by in seconds while it took minutes to get there. And then I listened as he told me about the first two years with Gabe Sure he might yell every once in awhile and Sally would get scared, but then he was back to being nice and getting her presents. Then they got married and he showed his true colors. Whenever Percy got a bad grade, talked back or did anything to interrupt his sudden poker games, there was a smack on the cheek waiting. But it was just a smack every once in awhile, right?

"Wrong. It got worse over time, when he started drinking more and staying home longer. When he would invite friends over and they would make comments about my mom, and I would get so mad..." He lifted his shirt over his head, moving so he was kneeling with his back to me. He lifted his hair so it no longer covered his neck, revealing scars littering the skin there. "He hit me with a glass beer bottle because I told Cassy about how he talked about my mom and never went to work. He told her he would kill me if she tried to help. She was only visiting her cousin at that point. She was fifteen."

And it went on. Scars I thought were from monsters transformed in front of my eyes. I watched as he pulled his shorts up to show the back of his thighs which were covered in cigar and cigarette burns. And then he told me about how he found out that his mom was getting hit too. So he left her with his spoil of war, the head of Medusa, and Gabe disappeared.

I didn't tell him I was sorry, I didn't thank him for telling me because I didn't want him to _have_ to. I just moved so I was kneeling on the ground with him and we held each other. I moved back onto the bed, only for him to follow me and move so we were both under covers. He grabbed a remote and turned on some useless romcom, kissing me lightly. "I love you."

He kissed my nose before curling himself around me. "I love you too." He nuzzled my hair, taking a deep breath. "I...I want to go to NYU." I glanced up at him, raising an eyebrow. "Hear me out, and I know you'll hate this because it put more work on you, but I really don't want to leave. And I know it's dangerous but maybe you could do something, like make a New Greece or something so we could live in camp Half Blood without being actual campers and it would..."

I cut him off with a kiss, moving so I could pull his face to mine more easily. I wanted to taste what his hope and love felt like, I could get drunk on it. Because for the minute I kissed him, I could see it. More cabin style homes by the lake, maybe a house or two by the Big House for more experienced, older Apollo campers or visitors. And I could see us coming back from college to live in one of those houses...I broke away from him, smiling at his dazed expression. "Wait, what if we had a way to get between the two camps without having to go on a dangerous trip across the country?"

Percy blinked at me for a second, before rolling his eyes. "You got that from kissing me? I think we should do this more often." He laughed as I looked at him, nuzzling my hair again. "Go write some stuff down before you forget, I'll help mom make us some lunch." It was lunch?

Yes, it was lunch. And when both Sally and Percy cooked, you prepared for some good food. As much as he failed miserably without help, Percy was the perfect helper in the kitchen. Especially when you needed things from the top shelf.

So when lunch was put on the table, my mouth was already watering. Blue lemonade and homemade pizza. I dove in without mercy, thanking them both through my bites. I blushed when I realized I had finished before Percy, laughing as I noticed that was only because he had gotten five slices. "Save some for the rest of them!"

Sally had four pieces and Paul was finishing off the last slice on the second pizza. Percy looked at me with a _you were saying?_ look. I kissed him, distracting him enough to steal his crust. He pouted at me, till I ripped it in half and gave him a piece. "Thank you milady."

I rolled my eyes at him before finally meeting Paul's eyes. And an understanding passed through us, flowing through to our hearts. They loved us more than anything and they deserved the same, after what they'd been through. We deserved to give it to them. I smiled at him lightly and just sat there listening with Paul as Sally and Percy talked about Cassy and how she's doing, what the old candy shop was like. I watched as they shared inside jokes, laughed till they cried and generally relaxed. Paul and I just kind of watched them, giving input when we could and laughing with them. But mostly it was just nice to see them like this, carefree and smiling so much their cheeks would be sore for a month.

But as soon as it came, Percy said it was time for us to go. "Yeah, I think we should get going. It was really nice to see you mom, I'll come back soon. But we need to leave or we'll miss the fun."

The fun was apparently a scavenger hunt for little kids that we were volunteering at, directing them if they couldn't find anything and sneaking a few extra prizes into the baskets of the really sad kids. It was a lot of fun, so much in fact that afterwards Percy just laid out a blanket from nowhere and had us recline in the sun. I know people usually only do that on the beach, but being in the sun was a luxury for us. We couldn't get enough. "So. What did you think? Who was your favorite?"

Percy looked offended. "You think I could choose? Alex was so excited when she found stuff, it was like christmas. And she just kept trying to give it to us, I swear she's the sweetest thing. And then there was the twins, she kept trying to keep her brother from crying because he couldn't find anything...My heart." He was being overdramatic and doing his best Piper impression, which was actually really good. "Not to mention all of the others. I can't pick! I wanted to snatch them all up and take them with us."

"Really?" When he shook his head, I laughed at him. There were at least ten kids there. "Alex looked like you, you know. She had really dark hair and your eyes. Plus the whole, 'she was the sweetest thing' statement you made."

Percy's eyes sparkled. "You're telling me about a like? Maggie was basically a little you. She had the curls and the light blue eyes that I swear were grey sometimes and your smartness. She kept finding everything. But I swear her brother was a combination, he had your good looks and my luck. He got into everything! He knocked over the table and tried to pick it up but just ended up falling over and knocking into Alex!" He smirked at the memory, shaking his head.

I laughed as I remembered how horrified he looked at hurting her, but she just whacked his arm and then grabbed his hand so they could keep looking. The kids we were talking about where about six or seven, but it was still really fun to watch them. It made her want kids like them. _Want kids like them? Since when do I even think about kids? I mean, they'll always be in danger..._ And then it solidified in my head what I wanted. I wanted those beach houses on the lake or the long island sound, filled with couples with toddlers and teenagers that go to camp and learn and...live. Generations of campers that are safe and wanted. No dying by your eighteenth birthday and no being terrified of having kids. Veteran campers that have training and knowledge that can teach, but also fight. Instead of sending her little brothers and sisters that are barely teens off to war to die, it's experienced fighters and adults. I wanted to never burn a shroud for another eight year old. "I want to do this..." I whispered before rolling over onto my stomach so I could look down at Percy. "I want to make New Greece. And I want it done before we get old enough to need it."

Percy looked into my eyes and I swear he just knew what I was thinking because he pulled me down for the slowest, sweetest tasting (we had eaten some of the chocolate at the scavenger hunt), kiss of all time. And I knew too. I knew he wanted it as much as I did. He wanted to stay with me to watch kids and grandkids and maybe great grandkids who will listen to war stories like they were fairy tales but know it really happened. Because Aunt Thalia is still with the hunters and talks about it too. And Chiron who sits at the main table shares their story every year, Dionysus even respects them a little. Because Children of Zeus, Poseidon and Hades show up at camp on rare occasions, but they still do. And they're welcomed with open arms. Because of us..

And so we kissed again just as the sun skimmed across the skyline.

 _Percy's flashback_

 **(This is third person for a reason, I did not screw up and switch on accident)**

" _Which one? This is way to hard and I'm not even the one doing this!' Grover stared at the array of rings in front of them as Percy looked around before seeing something. "What is it?" He watched as Percy pointed one out for him. "Oh that would be perfect. A little plain though..."_

 _Percy shook his head as he stared at the simple silver band. "No, it's perfect. I think I'm going to give it to Tyson so he can 'doll it up.'" He grinned at his best friend as he told the clerk what he wanted, pointing to it though the glass case. "I was thinking maybe something from Dad's place, so it's both of us."_

 _As the ring box was handed to him, Grover grinned at him. "She's going to love it dude. I'll see you next weekend for another guy's night, you can bring Annabeth if you want." He laughed as Percy shoved him lightly as they left. "I mean it, Perce. We're the original trio. I feel a little replaced."_

" _Well I very well couldn't bring Annabeth today, could I?"He grinned. "I'll bring her around, we both miss you." As they joked around, they hugged for a quick second before Percy unlocked his car. "Later, Lord G-Man. Say hi to Juniper for me!" As his best friend laughed, disappearing into the crowd, he relaxed. He had started calling him that after he became Lord Of The Wild, and it just stuck. He climbed into his car, buckling himself in. It was true though, they were the first trio and they would always stay best friends. Though war, fire, and the box that was burning a hole in his back pocket._

 **AN: I finished before a month passed! And don't you guys love the little scene at the end? I thought you all deserved a fluff chapter after all the stuff I did to our favorite characters. Don't worry, more pain and suffering soon!**


	26. Girl Talk

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO, the school or the myths**

 **AN: I'm sorry this took so long, I know it took almost a month to update. But I'm happy it only took this long since I've taken way longer to write. Only 13 more chapters to go! It's going to be weird, wrapping up this story. Thank the gods I plan on writing a sequel...**

 **Just remember I do not know Spanish, Latin and English with small amounts of Italian is it. I use google translate...a lot. Have Fun READING! :)**

 _Rachel's POV_

You know how girls are on another level than boys and always seem to know everything? Like how your mom finds that thing you lost sitting on your desk, your girlfriend is never surprised by your romantic gestures that you've been planning for weeks? I won't tell you how it works, but I will tell you I'm more powerful. Cause' even with less help from Oracle powers, I still get some visions. They don't make as much sense, but they still happen.

So when Annabeth and Percy left for their date, I had to run to my room. I don't know what I was painting or why I was but I needed to do it. I think I missed dinner because right as I was finishing, Percy walked in.

"Hey Rach, Reyna said you haven't come out of your..." Percy froze as he stared at my work, his eyes tracing every line and every detail. "How did you know?" He walked over to it, careful not to touch the wet paint. He looked back at me with worry in his eyes and suddenly I understood what he was going to do and why he was so scared.

I squealed, I will refuse to admit this if it ever comes up again, but I did. "Okay, okay. You got her a ring, a promise ring, right? Oh this is so cute you're giving it to her tonight, right? Oh it's so cute and I want to help you plan this. What hand are you putting it on? How do you know her ring size?" I know I was freaking out but It's _Percy and Annabeth_. You kind of have to when they do cute stuff.

"Um. I as planning to. And she borrowed some stuff from my mom so we found out, she said to do left hand but pointer instead of ring." Percy relaxed a little. "But if she really wanted to, it would be cool if it went on her necklace or ring finger. As long as no one thinks we were engaged, that's not what this means right?"

I shook my head as I laughed at him. "No, no. It's not." I opened my arms for a hug and I got swept up in a lot of Percy. "I'm happy you're so happy. Congratulations on the next big step." I pulled away before really looking at my painting. It was two intertwined hands with one wearing a simple silver band with a piece of sea glass embedded in it. It was perfectly them. "Oh, wow. Can I see it?" I felt like a giddy child but it didn't matter because my _best friends_ were _so_ cute!

Percy pulled a ring box out of his back pocket and opened it slowly. "I got the band from my mom, it was my grandmother's graduation ring since she was the only one to go to college. Tyson wanted to help so he got me the glass and did the design. Do you think she's going to like it?"

"Percy, you got the band from someone who was the first in the family to go to college, it's beautiful. How couldn't she love it? Oh, not to mention it's romantic and from _you_. That girl has been in love with you for so long, I don't think you could do anything to scare her away..." I froze as I noticed him flinch, an image flashing across my eyes again of an arai laughing at him. "Percy."

He closed the door lightly, placing his head on the door. "I did something, Rach. Annabeth refuses to talk about it, Nico is someone I can barely be in the room with because I hurt him so much without realizing it...I can't talk to Jason or Reyna or anyone..." He tensed as he curled his nails against the door, shaking. "Do you know how much water is in the human body? What the percentage is?"

I covered my lips with my fingers, trying to process what could he could possibly be talking about. Annabeth and Nico would know, but he couldn't talk to them about it..."Tartarus, what happened?" I watched his shoulders rise and fall in little hiccups, if he was laughing or crying I couldn't tell. "Percy, talk to me. You know..."

"My powers. What I can control, how well." He turned to look at me and I swear as I looked at him he turned into cracked glass. "I learned I can control poison, I made Misery choke on her own. Annabeth was there. What she didn't see was that after that, I started to sense everything. Just like water, I could see the blood running through the ground, I could feel Annabeth's heart pumping. It was terrifying, like holding a kitten and knowing how easily you could kill it."

I tried to force out a small laugh but it came out as a gasp. "Annabeth isn't a kitten and you aren't the type to hurt someone like that." I grabbed his shaking hand. "And that fear? That fear of what you did is why you're a good person, you don't want to hurt anyone and you don't like all this power you have. You're a child of the big three, it's understandable you have this much power. What you do with it, that's why Annabeth loves you and why the camp thinks of you as a leader."

It took a while, but I finally got him calmed down and drinking some blueberry tea. "Go talk to him. Both of you. You are the only ones who can kind of understand. Annabeth, you were there. You saw him after it happened. Nico, you almost faded. Reyna told me the strength of your power. You get how dangerous it can be and you were there too."

I locked them all in the couple's room before breaking down in mine, burying myself in the bed of blankets and pillows. I was the mortal, the oracle. The one who told everyone their fates and the one who was in the middle of everything. I was the one who spoke for the gods and sent everyone to fight their battles. I might not have that power anymore but I was still in the middle of this world that I didn't understand while having to fix the mess that I created unwillingly. Gods, it hurt.

"Mi ángel de fuego, no puedo arreglar lo que está mal. Pero quiero que sepas que estoy aquí." Reyna curled around my bundle, searching for a fold to free me with. "Mi amor, por favor, ven y déjame ver tu cara. Rachel, I need to see your face. Come on, mi ángel." She finally unfolded me, dragging me to her chest as I broke.

"I thought today was going to be a good day! I did, I thought they were going to have a great date and then I figured this out and I opened my stupid, stupid mouth." I curled into her as I sobbed, knowing she would probably joke that I ruined her shirt later but for now she just held me tightly. "I know you hate this but I just..."

Reyna pulled away to hold up my face to look at her's. "Rachel, you aren't strong because you don't break down." She pushed my crazy hair away, looking annoyed as it just bounced back. "Okay, crying session after I fix your hair. I need a brush, a comb and some hair ties." She watched me grab them from my dresser, making me sit on the bed. "Talk as I take care of this."

I laughed at her as I wiped away some of my tears, going into long and dramatic explanation of what happened, leaving out the details that weren't mine to share. "And then this evil creature stole me from my blanket burrito and I froze to death in her icy arms! Can you believe it?!" I whined as she tugged on my hair again, digging my nails into her thighs behind me to make her stop. "Hwy, I never said it was you. How don't you know it wasn't Piper or Annabeth that came in here and..."

Reyna spun me around, putting us nose to nose. "Oh, I don't think they came in here. Because they wouldn't apologize with this..." She pressed her lips to mine, her tongue teasing me for a second before pulling away and smirking. "And making you smile again by doing this..." She leaned in closely, her breath ghosting over my skin before suddenly I was pinned and her fingers were dancing over my hips, my sides and the back of my knees.

"Stop!" Tickling. My worst nightmare. Oh but I knew Reyna's secret, I knew her oh so dark secret. She couldn't take what she dished out. So of course, I easily got out from under her when I slid my feet over her calves which made her tense. "Oh, not so strong now are we?"

Reyna tried to get away from me but I wasn't going to lose to her this time. "Come at me, Red." She tossed her hair over her shoulder, looking like a cat as she stretched and looked ready to pounce as she moved around our room slowly, watching me from each vantage point.

"Here kitty kitty." I smirked as she frowned, charging. I don't think either of us have had that much fun in years, it was exactly what both of us needed. Even if I didn't know then that her sister had found out about us via IM, or that she got a letter from the camp in the mail. No, but I would figure it out later because right now she needed me and I needed her. So we laughed and danced around each other more than before we figured out we liked each other.

 _Aphrodite's POV_

"Oh, I can't and the, when they. Oh and the tickling! I just about died..." I sighed as I chatted with Persephone who was allowed to visit since Hades was here for a meeting anyway. "I know you don't particularly enjoy the boy but him and Will are perfect together." I sighed as I stared off into space, my eyes glazed over as I looked at them interacting like I was there.

The goddess before me shifted, pulling my attention away from the mortal world and onto her. "I need your help 'dite, I need help...understanding." When she had my interest, she smoothed out her dress. She was always my favorite of all of them since she understood. We may be goddesses of "soft" things but we could destroy anyone if pushed enough, I am still the goddess that started the Trojan war and got Athena to like Odysseus enough to get him home safely. I am still the goddess that led Percy and Annabeth to be so in love with each other that they fell into Tartarus to be together. "Nico is...different. When he was first with his father, he was harsh and rude. He was sick. Now he looks the same besides better health, but he's polite and gentle with his words. What..?"

"Love, Sephie." When she made to shake her head that no, it was before Will that this happened, I held up a hand. "Nico was taken from his country at a young age, forced to forget his mother after she died and then shoved into a different century. His sister left him and died because of it, his crush was the person he blamed. On top of that, he was a child of Hades and got manipulated by some ghost. He hasn't had anyone in his life that he felt really cared about him since before he was aware he was a demigod." I watched her face change as she took in this new information. "Do you understand now?"

Persephone nodded slowly. "He'd just lost everything and I was the evil step mom." When she looked at me, I watched her face turn to horror. "I was my mother!" She ran a hand through her curls, looking completely horrified at herself. _Of course I would look like that too if I acted like Demeter..._

"Just listen, he was not in a good place and you were his outlet. You responded with the same and both of you are at fault." She blushed darkly as I told her flat out, but I knew it was only for interrupting. "Think of this as a home. Nico since when you first met has found a Roman sister, Hazel. This relationship is healthy and helped fix the cracks from when Bianca died, which gave him a foundation. Then Jason came along and gave him someone to trust and they became friends and later became brothers. This gave him structure or walls. Reyna came in as another, older sister who already knew every bad thing that happened to him and his dark secrets. She loved him anyway and that gave him strength and a finish. But all he was was a layout house till Percy became his older brother. That gave him the finishing touches for Will to move into his heart." I paused as I quickly fixed my makeup, a more neutral and highlight kind of day. "What I don't think you know, is it made room for the two of you as well."

While Will helped him fully accept himself, he started to accept others too. I don't know when but I started to see the strings on his fingers change and multiply. He had more friends which showed on his pointer fingers, with lots of yellow strings connecting them. On his middle fingers were red strings which connected him to his family and when I first saw her today, I could see the red one connecting him to her as well as his father. "You mean...?"

I smiled my 'oh honey you really couldn't figure this out on your own?' smile as I took her hands in mine. "I'm the goddess of sexuaity and love. Not just romantic, but every kind of love you can imagine. In his eyes, you were originally a replacement. Now, you aren't his mother but you are his stepmom." I smiled as she hugged me lightly before dramatically flinging myself across the couch, Roman style. "So...Gossip?"

Persephone nodded excitedly, moving to mirror me. "Tell me about Hazel and Frank, what have they been up too? I mean obviously they haven't done anything to..." She gasped when I gave her a look, giggling as she moved closer. "Tell me."

"Okay so obviously they aren't on the same level as the others in the Seven, even Leo and Calypso. They've planned for this Mechanic Shop, he's working with Annabeth to design it and a house...It's going to be so cute and oh the babies...!" I lost track of what I was saying as images flashed across my vision of small children with Leo's darker skin and his curls with her eyes, laughing as they chased each other around as Calypso made stew in the kitchen and Leo came in with oil stains and a rag, saying he needed help on a big project. The oldest quickly said they'd watch the stew while the youngest signed that they wanted to help. I was brought back to reality but the thick smell of the new flowers on the table brought me back. "Right, well they are more confidant now...so they've started being more confident with each other and what they do..."

Persephone scrunched her nose for a second. "She is my daughter, do I really want to know?" Just as she realized her use of words, I quickly started talking about the chocolate fiasco and their cuteness at school. "Oh, I'm so proud of her. I knew that girl had some sass in her."

"At least it's not aimed at poor Percy this time..." We both covered our mouths as we remembered hearing _that_ argument between Hades and Poseidon, before falling into fits of laughter. I don't think I've seen Hephaestus so concerned as when he walked in to inform us that the meeting was over. "Phaestus, baby, thank you." I gave him a kiss on either cheek quickly before moving to leave. _Vlaca, you just showed affection towards him! They can't know yet..._ I sighed as I looked back to find my husband looking even more confused as Persephone seemed it figure it out. I put a finger to my lips before disappearing to visit Hestia at Camp Half Blood. My son was arriving that day and his mother was going to need a little help...remembering me. I knew the perfect way to...boost her memory and it was going to be so much fun.

 **Author's Note: If any of you want confirmation on a guess or a straight forward no, just message me privately. Because someone in the reviews guessed, who attacked Percy in the Gateway Arch is right for who is attacking him now.**

 **Translations:**

 **Mi ángel de fuego, no puedo arreglar lo que está mal. Pero quiero que sepas que estoy aquí. "My angel of fire, I can not fix what is wrong. But I want you to know that I'm here."**

 **Mi amor, por favor, ven y déjame ver tu cara. "My love, please come and let me see your face."**


	27. A Father's Love

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HOO**

 **PAIN AND SUFFERING HERE WE COME! Now, I don't take pleasure in hurting them or ripping your hearts into little pieces...Much. I love you all! Kisses and fluff coming your way.**

 **[ After these two chapters (; ]**

 **WARNING! Kind of descriptive rape scene, small segments. If you are uncomfortable or triggered by that, please don't read.**

 _Drew's POV_

I'm not wise or clever like Annabeth, I'm not charming and carefree like Piper. I don't have that innocent smile that calms down a raging bull (Frank literally saw red...) like Hazel, I don't have a magical air about me, layered in mystery like Lou Ellen and I don't have that motherly aura that Katie has to attract guys like Travis who just need someone to be there. I don't have the regalness of Reyna or the brightness and creativity of Rachel. I don't stand a chance next to them in any of these categories but I have one thing I pray none of them can relate to. Experience. So, no I wouldn't have cleverly slipped away, bravely stood up to him, come up with a creative lie or even just not been a target. Because that's what they would have done. No, I should have done what I knew I could. I should have been able to look at him and recognize the signs. The holding drinks for any girl who will let him, pouting slightly when they take it away with them too quickly. The slight bulge in his jacket and pants, the smirk he wore whenever he snuck a kiss. This was an okay guy to talk to. The bulge in his jacket was condoms and all he wanted was a girl's attention. I should have stuck with him.

But no, I went to the quiet guy in the corner who'd been staring at me. I went to the guy who raised a cup to me and gave the barest hint of pride when I took his cup from him and chugged it. I went to the guy I'd seen before, the one who sent alarm bells off in my head and made a twist in my gut as I looked at him.

Of course for you to fully understand my story, I need to give you some background on me and he party. First of all, I don't have a dad. I have two moms, one of which is as you know Aphrodite. My other mom...Oh she was beautiful. She was only a child when our family immigrated to America from Japan and she was the perfect daughter in my grandparents eyes. She had delicate features, a curvy figure that wasn't too large so she was still petite and was very simple with her clothing. She was the perfect daughter her whole life. Till she decided she wanted to go to college with her perfect grades, high honors and perfect attendance. So she left Virginia and danced her way into Juilliard, where she met my mom. She had charmed her way in as a prospective employer, looking for potential. When she saw my mother dance, she said "it was as if you were dancing for the muses". That was all it took for my mother to realize why she never really dated, focusing on her studies like my grandparents wanted, and for her to fall head over heels. Literally, she tripped in her small heels because of Aphrodite's flirting which lead to two very flustered moms. One thing lead to another and they started dating secretly, because she knew her family wouldn't approve of them. Oh and then I came along. Not only did they get upset that she wasn't married yet but Aphrodite made the mistake of telling them about her.

I can't tell you what happened exactly, but apparently my mom died from giving birth from me since her parents didn't let the doctor give her an epidural, only knock out gas. I required a c section. Aphrodite was heartbroken and left me to my grandparents who raised me till I was eight. The only thing I was taught that being with a boy meant strength, makeup meant beauty and girls were horrible creatures not to be trusted. They didn't want me turning out to be a lesbian like my mom, since she had managed to name me after the girl she had fallen in love with. When she met Aphrodite, her name was Drew Marie Johnson.

When I started to look exactly like my mother, they decided they couldn't handle me anymore. So I was thrown into foster care since my grandparents "were too old to take care of a rambunctious child", using my ADHD as an excuse. I begged them to let me stay but they refused. By the time the court case was over and I was officially a ward of the state, I was ten.

Now that you know why I hate girls and people who abandon their family (cough cough Silena cough cough), the party needs explaining too. You see, we had just finished midterms and so the teachers gave us a three day weekend (anyone who didn't finish would go in that Monday or to retake). Somehow, one of the most popular kids in the school thought it was a brilliant idea to throw a party. The entire swim team was invited, which by extension meant us.

"No." I glared at my sister as she quickly threw the rejected outfit on the bed with a sigh. "Wear the medium wash jeans that you ripped up and somehow still look good in, I hate you for that," I stuck my tongue out at her when she huffed. "the sarcastic shirt and some accessories that match." I went over to her new jewelry box as she quickly stopped, picking out some earrings, a choker with a rose on it and a bow that would look good. "You can't force me to go to this party, the last one was a disaster."

Piper snorted as she slipped on the shirt. "Hey, you didn't help with clean up so no opinion. Besides you'll finally be on good terms with _Connor_ at this one. You can go make out with him in a closet or something." She grinned as I chucked on of her pillows at her, dodging easily. "Fine, make out with him on the dance floor."

"Thank you, closets are cheap. Plus if I got a man, I'm showing him off." I did a small dance as Piper laughed at me, finally looking at her. "Red looks really good on you. Now if you had just been Jessica Rabbit for halloween...or wore that dress!" I was quickly chased out by flying pillows and crashed right into Jason. "Changing, don't you dare." I pushed him away from the door.

The party was off to an okay start, I danced with Connor during a slow song and I had fun. I could smell the alcohol burning people's throats as they slurred their words around me, but I couldn't find where it was coming from. I gagged as a guy tried to kiss me and the vodka smell washed over me. "No thank you." And then I made the mistake that would haunt me for years, I went to the quiet guy in the corner who'd been staring at me. "Hey, mind if you share?" I grabbed his cup in my hands and held my breath as I poured the hard liquor don my throat, never breaking eye contact with his prideful smile. I should have known, I shouldn't have even gone over in the first place.

"You like to drink, aren't you going to ask if I put drugs in it?" I knew he did, right then. Because the smirk in his eyes wasn't _I'm getting laid..._ It was something I'd seen before. _She's weak and she can't fight back now._ "So, what's your name?"

I shrugged as I felt the buzz start flowing through my blood, bringing that dizzying drug he'd slipt in when he first got it and just pretended to sip the drink it his hand. It's why I hadn't seen him get a refill. "You look like a smart guy, why don't you tell me? I know you've been watching me." He was closer, when did he move closer? "What are...?" And then I saw we were in a room, one I didn't recognize. _Fuck..._ "I wanna..."

"I know babe, you want me to." _No, I wanna leave..._ He grinned as he slowly worked at my shirt and jeans. He was giving me all the time in the world but he was enjoying the fact that I couldn't move my arms from their spot at my sides, the felt too heavy. "Baby, I want you...you but you have to be quiet.."

" _Baby, you have to be quiet. Daddy needs you to be quiet. Can you do that for me? You now I love you, so can you do that for your Daddy?" He was there and I was stuck in the blankets, trying to get my night dress back on. Why did it have to be so hot that night?_

 _I nodded slowly just as I pulled it over my head, but then I got stuck and the blankets were gone. "Daddy, can you help me?" I whispered it because he asked. And when I suddenly felt something warm touching my legs I didn't scream. I just asked him what was going on. Because I didn't understand. I still don't._

I gasped as I came back to find him between my legs and basically purring as he thought I enjoyed it. I didn't want him there. "Stop. I don't...Please..." My words were slurred as I tried pulling him by the hair away from me, but e just seemed to enjoy that. I slammed a fist into the bed as I tried to wiggle myself out from under him but he kept a firm grip on my thighs.

" _It hurts." I stated it like a fact instead of a plea like I should have, I should have understood that this was wrong. I should have screamed. But he was so big compared to me and he was my foster Daddy. Daddy's love you, right?_

I finally found myself as I started whimpering, trying to let my charmspeak slip through the words couldn't make out. And then I remembered Piper and how she found he voice to fight me. I couldn't be weak where Piper was strong, I had to fight. So I did the only thing I could think of, I slashed out with my nails and cut myself. The pain shocked me enough to help my throat let go of it's constricting grip and let loose a scream that made him fall back. I don't know when I stopped, maybe it was when I stumbled off the bed and hit my head on the desk. Maybe it was when I made it to the hallway. Or maybe I never did.

 _Connor's POV_

The scream was terrifying. It cut through the air like knives and we were all the hall in seconds as Drew stumbled out of the room with fear in her unseeing as eyes, falling to the ground instantly. "Get away, I don't want you too! Daddy!" She was clawing at herself as she tried to shove away some unseen force, rocking back and forth.

I tried to grab at her to make her stop. "Drew, Drew. Please stop you're going to hurt yourself. Drew." I was trying to grab at her arms and Piper was there stroking her hair as our friends watched us in concern before I noticed something. Her skin was more exposed than before. It was _completely_ exposed. "Drew, who did this to you? Did you agree to it?" I could feel Annabeth working it out but I just moved so I was blocking their view more. "Drew, please look at me love." I prayed my whispers reached her.

She finally looked up at me with tears streaming down her cheeks. "It was one drink. I know I'm not as smart as Annabeth but it was only one drink, I swear. I tried to talk but my voice was gone and..." She buried her head in her arms again, refusing to let Piper touch her now.

I think I might have growled, I don't know. But something set everyone else off as I slammed the door open to find a guy sliding a shirt on with his zipper down. As soon as I had a view of his neck, I saw the scratch marks clawing at his neck. Drew had fought back. I didn't know what to do, he was slightly bigger than me and probably even matched in strength. But I was angry and in pain because all I wanted to do was protect her and I failed. "Do you even know her name?" When he turned to me and I saw that spark of fear hidden by a prideful smirk, I had to stop myself from hurting him.

"Drew," he grinned as he finished dressing, "must not have loved you as much as you thought if she begged me..." He was cut off from a hard punch to the throat, his wheezing giving me time to throw Drew's clothes into the hallway. As he stood up, he glared at me with anger. "She wanted it, if you just can't deal with that hit her."

"You think I'd hit her. You think I'd _hurt her_." I saw red. I don't know what I did to him but suddenly I was being dragged out of the room by Travis as Annabeth looked at him to make sure he was breathing from his spot on the floor.

 **AN: I apologize for being more than a month since my last update, I'm a terrible human being, I know. But! I had five essays due these past two week, a baby shower, the huge snowstorm that hit my side of the US. 4 hours of shoveling in two days, I'm dying here. Also a few other things this week that hit close to home and made it hard to finish this chapter because of the topic.**


	28. My Heart Swells With Love

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or any of it's characters, which is why my views of them might be different than yours or Mr. Rick Riordan.**

 **AN: I love you all and I am so sorry it takes so long for me to write, summer will be better I hope. Unless work gets crazy...Anyway, there is fluff coming your way. Mostly just the couples healing each other and the siblings being cute.**

 _Katie's POV_

Sometimes you don't realize what you have until these little moments, these moments when you just stare and wonder where on earth they came from. Like when I found Travis dancing in the kitchen with his shirt off and a flannel tied around his waist, a piece of toast hanging out of his mouth. When he noticed me he simply grinned widely and put the toast down. "Kit Kat!" And suddenly I was spinning under his arm as he sun me out towards the counters.

I laughed at him as he pulled me back to him and started doing a weird version of the tango. "You are so ridiculous, I just wanted breakfast!" He dipped me with one arms and shoved the piece of toast in my mouth with the other. I almost dropped it I was laughing too much and my eyes were going blurry from how dizzy I was. He dipped me again and I came to face the rest of our friends staring at us, from my point of view. I grinned as he flipped me back up and released me. I finally bit into my toast and yanked the rest away from my face. "Morning."

Annabeth just rolled her eyes she walked by us to get some juice, one for her and blueberry for Percy. "I see you had a fun breakfast." On further inspection, it was just Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, Emily, Clarisse, Chris and Rachel.

"You know you can't really wake up till you dance to nothing in the kitchen with the one person in the world you can look at happily when you haven't had coffee." Travis kissed my cheek as I sat on the counter and ate my toast. "Fend for yourself today, I have to get to school early for a project!" He grinned as he grabbed a tired looking Connor from the hallway and disappeared.

I laughed harder and tried to keep the chewed up pieces still in my mouth as Annabeth gagged in mock disgust. "What? You don't want any?" I stuck out my tongue as everyone stared at me and Annabeth groaned. "Stuck it Annie." I swallowed quickly and wrapped an arm around her with a quick kiss to her forehead. "You know you love me!"

If you didn't know, I'd been at camp for a long time. My dad was amazing but he struggled with taking care of me and my cousins since he was given custody when my uncle died in a car crash because his wife was drunk. I had five cousins, Taylor and Frankie were the oldest who helped out as much as they could. Taylor was sixteen and really short, but she could ride better than any of us on the farm. Frankie was seventeen and she hated working with the animals, she was completely terrified of them. Especially the birds. She stuck with the garden and fields. Then there was the triplets. Sawyer, Braeden and Sydney. The three of them were six and the most troublesome bunch. Braedon was growing into a real jerk and Sydney refused to listen to anyone as she went off to do her jobs with pride. Sawyer was the only one who could really get them to stop fighting and listen, except for the older two. They basically worshiped the ground their older sisters walked on and loved them to death.

But because of all this, I left my house early. I went to camp when I was ten, a few years after Annabeth. I was angry and bossy and hurting and I needed someone. Anyone, but the Stolls. Yet there they were, a few months after I crossed. They stood on the hill panting and grinning like idiots.

And there they were again, watching me climb out of the car to get to school with a project I had to do for class in my arms. "A little help?" Connor, of course, rushed forward and grabbed what he could, running off to whatever with it. "Not what I meant!"

Travis grinned cheekily at me as he grabbed my backpack for me. "Here." It was weird walking through school. In the past week, Chris had been sent to the hospital for a concussion and been sentenced to staying at home so he didn't strain himself. Drew didn't go to school because she was still dealing with the guy who raped her and the police investigation.

"Thank you, at least _someone_ is useful." I sent Clarisse a look, but I soon realized she wasn't paying attention. She'd been doing that a lot lately when we were out of the apartment, staring off into space or glaring at nothing. She was more persistent than ever that we find out who the monster was, even if she didn't show it. All she did when she had free time was fight and review strategy to find out who, _who it could possibly be_. Chris couldn't even get her to calm down now when she was upset. "Let's get to class, I think it's starting soon."

Class was hard to sit through with everyone watching us warily. Three of us had been hospitalized or had an attempt on their life, two of us locked in rooms to suffer torture and one of us was attacked. People didn't know weither to be scared _of_ us or _for_ us. Leo's cousins weren't as friendly, they mostly left all of us alone after Leo had a shouting match with Rosie over the reason Calypso was in the fire. Shitty people do shitty things.

"You know I'm not a China doll, I can punch you in the face and the only thung that will break is your nose." I glared at the two sitting before me as I finished my part of the project, shoving my notes across the table. "I'll be right back, I need a break."

Sam seemed to think that was a brilliant idea because "girls on their periods are terrifying" but his friend Haven followed me to the hall. "Hey, wait a minute. I'm sorry, but you gotta know how freaky it is that after you guys show up a bunch of shit happens and it mostly revolves around you and your friends."

I glared at him as I spun around. "Well I'm sorry my life is so concerning that you feel you have to watch me and comfort me after you and Sam were asshats." I ran a hand through my hair as I tried to breathe snd remember not to punch him. "My friend is on bed rest because of a concussion. Another is recovering from the hospital and a few days ago my best friends girl got..." I huffed. "I'm sorry I snapped, but I am stressed and really in need of you two to treat me like a human being."

Haven nodded with a grin just as Travis walked over and hugged him. "Hey, I didn't know you two had met!" Travis slung his arm around me as he gave the other guy a questioning look. When he got a shake in return, Travis huffed. I watched the transaction with confusion as Haven finally agreed to whatever just happened. "This is Katie, my girlfriend." He gestured to me.

"Travis, we're doing a project together-"

"-Katie, meet Hailey. We met at work, she does makeup. And keeps our photos from getting out into the school" I froze in place when he said that because my brain short circited. Hailey? She? He was watching me with a neutral expression now, trying to figure out what I was going to do.

I punched Travis in the arm, _hard_ , before turning back to her. "I'm sorry about him, he can be an ass with his friends trying to make them come out. She/her, right?" When she nodded slowly, I smiled brightly. "Here I was calling you an asshat when I am dating the biggest one in this school."

Travis growled next to my ear as he wrapped his arms around my waist. "Oh, you are so getting it when we get home. Be prepared for the ultimate battle on the roof." When I pointed out that he had work, he pouted. "But I don't wanna..."

Hailey laughed at us from her spot by the door. "Travis, remember I have access to all your shoots. Including the swimwear ones for next season..." She smirked as he groaned into my neck, making me blush a deep color. "Oh, I see you need some privacy..."

I chased her back into the room, suddenly more relaxed with the possibility of being stuck with her and Sam for another hour.

Lunch rolled around faster than I wanted it too, it meant I had to present the project next block. We'd only finalized the details of it five minutes before the bell ran on us, with all three of us glaring at the clock. "That was stressful. Where's Travis?" Katie was lucky Paul had let her out of class to meet with the other two who had a free block, but the others were not so lucky.

"He got held back for a chat with Mr. Stokes because of his ditching class for ten minutes." Percy grinned at me as he went back to stuffing blue cookies in his mouth while protecting them from Jason and Hazel. "You Romans suck!"

"Keeping aunt Sally's cookies from us are worse than detention, you can not keep them from us!" Hazel grinned as she dove across the table and snatched one out of his hand just as he was about to pop it in his mouth. "Thank you, I'll take that." She squealed as he reached after her only for an arm to block him. She split the cookie in half and gave the other part to Frank for his help, recieving a kiss in return.

"Ew! Stop ruining our precious Hazel in front of us, if you must at all!" Thalia cried as she dramatically fell backwards onto Leo who choked on a fry from laughter. "What's got your suspenders in a twist, flame boy?"

Leo turned to Hazel with a look that had her red to her chest. "Oh nothing, just that best friends _tell each other everything._ Right Pipes?" He grinned at her before whispering something to Thalia who looked like she was just told Percy was a child of Athena.

"YOU WERE MAKING OUT IN THE KITCHEN?" No one even looked at our table, they were so used to us by now. But I'm pretty sure some of them went to get the nurse with how much we were choking and reenacting spit takes.

Frank shrank down and hide behind Reyna while Hazel glared at the two of them. "Hey, what I do in the kitchen is none of your business unless you're eating it. And you're acting as if you didn't forget to lock your door..." She grinned victoriously across the table because it was Thalia who was red now. "Didn't know that was your type."

Jason looked horrified at Thalia as she sputtered some excuse. "Nico, please tell me at least someone in this family hasn't been corrupted by outsiders." When he got nothing in response he gasped in horror with his usual flare. "No. Will, how could you?"

"With great pleasure and great surprise." Was his only response as the rest of our table laughed. I waved Travis over as Will dodged the ketchup packet thrown at his head. "Travis, buddy. Back me up here!" the blonde begged as he smacked away something else.

I rolled my eyes as I reached into my lunch box to find a container I didn't put there. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a cupcake from Travis, who was trying to get Percy to stop throwing things at "the demon children who corrupted his baby cousins" at that point. I decided to thank him after I made sure it wasn't a prank, which it turned out not to be. It was the best cupcake I'd ever had, but it left a weird taste in my mouth. "Travis, what kind of cupcake is this?"

"I don't know, who gave it to you?" Travis' eyes widened as I suddenly got a bad feeling in my stomach. "Shit, Katie? Someone call the nurse or somebody! Katie where is your pen?" He started scrambling for my bag as my breath became short. "Shit, where is it?"

I reached forward and opened the smallest part of my bag before my vision got blurry and my throat closed.

 _Travis's POV_

"Katie, open your eyes." I still had my hand on her thigh from where I'd injected her Epipen, praying she'd just open her eyes. "Come on baby, please." I was shaking and I knew people were watching us now but I really didn't care. "Why did it have to be her? This is the only thing that even remotely affects her and it could kill her and..."

"Travis, breathe. You did what you could now make sure she's breathing when the nurse and EMTs get here. Travis, she's going to be fine." Will was watching me with concern but I couldn't even breathe myself. Katie was the best thing in my life next to my brother and I couldn't lose her.

I glared at the note she'd given me and I read it again. _I love you Kit Kat, hope you like it!_ I wouldn't have written that, how didn't she know that? Why didn't she ask _before_ eating it? _Because it was from you and she loves you._ The annoying voice in the back of his head was really a downer today. Wait, when was it not?

She was going to be fine, that's what they told him. But they didn't know where the cupcake came from. They wanted to blame it on him but everyone could contest that he had no opportunity. So he was free to go. But she was not, they wanted to keep an eye on her because of how serious it was. And if they weren't family, they didn't get to stay. And because none of them were, he was forced to leave knowing that Katie was going to spend a night in the hospital with no one to be with her. And that scared him more than whoever tried to kill her.


	29. Tickle Fights and Makeouts

**Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO series or any of its' characters. I only own the plot and Emily.**

 **AN: I LOVE THE NEW BOOK AND I CAN'T! Chapters posted more frequently over the summer, no idea when second book is going to start. Unless I have no access to a computer because my school is stealing mine...GERRRR! Anyway, all the loves to my followers!**

 _Calypso's POV_

I really didn't mean to be up this late and I certainly didn't mean to walk in on the moment or stay for as long as I did. But you must understand, I need to be accustomed to the new life we have and what comes with it. Including random insomnia or hunger in the night. So I had made my way to the kitchen downstairs, only to find the light was already on. I paused outside the doorway and peeked inside to find something I wasn't expecting.

Percy was gently spinning Annabeth under his arm, unbearably slow. He curled her back into his arms, pressing their foreheads together. I could hear one of them humming the words to a tune I didn't know but I didn't stay long enough to find out. I had moved on from Percy, I had Leo who worked _with_ me and only fought my battles when I needed him to. He listened and he tried and he wasn't perfect...But he was mine. And yet looking at them brought emotions I couldn't place to the surface, searing into my skin. I hated those emotions and how they twisted my stomach into knots, curling in on itself.

I went to the roof so I could get away and watch what little stars they had here in this little...city. Was this a city? It was nothing like I could remember back in Greece. It was nothing like the beauty of Athens or the boldness of Sparta. What was it? It looked to me like Hephaestus's junkyard was turned into a place to live.

"Sunshine." His voice was just a whisper as he moved silently next to me, his warmth washing away what little chill I had. He didn't say anything else as he wrapped his arm around me and buried his nose in my hair. He was comforting and safe, like one of those mechanic shops he always talked about. Nothing ever changed in them over all but there was always something new to make so you never got bored.

I turned so our noses where touching, trying to snuff out a yawn so it wouldn't ruin in the moment. "Do you know how to dance, Leo?" When he grinned and was about to make some _witty_ reply about how he used to _woo_ the ladies with his _awesome_ moves, I shook my head. "Real dancing, not whatever is popular right now."

"Si, Sunshine. Mi madre me enseñó, she loved to dance. Mind you we weren't very good, but it was fun." His warmth disappeared for a second as his hand appeared in front of my face. "I know you saw them in the kitchen, I usually do." I took his hand shyly, unsure of what he was planning. "No, we are not going to dance tonight because that is not our thing. But if you wake up with me tomorrow instead of sleeping in," I laughed, "I'll teach you while everything is being made."

And so he did. I can't tell you the last time I had that much fun in a kitchen or a dining room or wherever he decided had enough room for this one move. "Watch my feet, we'll do it slowly for right now because neither of us have practiced recently. You at all." I whacked his arm as he stuck his tongue out at me, rolling his eyes. He always made weird expressions like that. He slipped away for a second to flip the french toast before wrapping his arms around me, throughly cutting off the progress I tried to make in setting the table while he wasn't being a goofball.

"Leo, as much fun as it is to do this with you, we do need to finish." When he pouted I kissed him quickly, smiling as he finally let me go. "You know I love you..." We both froze, the fork I was about to set slipping out of my hand. I blushed darkly and turned around. "I didn't...you say it...I..." _Oh shit._ It was a kind of unsaid thing between us, the fact that I had fallen in love with him on that island and that's why the raft came. But it felt too soon to say it out loud and I wasn't sure if I had just done something wrong.

He stepped forward and pressed a light kiss to my forehead. "It's okay. Breathe." When my mortal blubbering finally stopped, he kissed one of my hands lightly for some reason. "Soy muy consciente de tu amor por mí, pero déjame ser claro en mi amor por ti. Es joven y es una llama tranquila, pero como ambos sabemos que mis llamas tienden a salir de control. Así que lo dejo sin decir en palabras que entiendes." While I just looked at him in confusion, he went back to cooking. I knew those words held affection and that he was talking about us, but I barely knew the basics of the spoken word and that was only when he was talking slowly so I could keep up.

Before I could ask him what he said, everyone else came in for breakfast. Nyssa whispered something to him as he put all of the food onto their serving plates, making him pale and blush and whisper something to her in annoyance. I let it be as a sibling thing, instead sitting with my friends and deciding to eat. Connor and Travis were at the hospital with Katie, making sure she was okay to leave and making sure nothing had happened while she was left unprotected.

"Can we call out sick from school today? I really don't want to go in if something else is going to happen. Even if it doesn't, I really don't want to face anyone today." Annabeth looked up from her food as everyone else stared at her, surprised that she was the one speaking up about this. "I was thinking of checking in at camp with Percy, if anyone else wants to come with us."

Reyna was about to shake her head before Frank spoke up. "I was actually hoping to borrow a few pegasus' so we could make a day trip to Camp Jupiter, we haven't had contact for a while. Does anyone want to come with me?"

It was quickly decided that Percy, Annabeth, Nyssa, Thalia and Emily would go to camp Half Blood while all the Romans went to visit Camp Jupiter. They disappeared as soon as the trucks arrived for them, leaving the rest of us to decide what we wanted to do.

Nico, Will, Cecil and Lou Ellen decided to go to school still because of how behind they were on classes and how weird it would look if none of us went. Drew disappeared when they left, saying she needed some space. So that left the two of us to our own devices.

"Come on Sunshine, you gotta move with the music!" Leo was exaggerating every move he did as he danced in the living room with me, or at least he danced and I just stood there laughing my ass off. He huffed as he grabbed my hands and started a new set, though this was more like freestyle fun dancing instead of the style he was originally trying to teach me.

Eventually I got dizzy and we collapsed on the couch together, a giggling wiggling mess of limbs. "Okay, I have to admit that that was fun. You have won me over to your barbaric version of dance!" I refuse to admit I squealed like he will tell you when he attacked me for my comments, his fingers finding every ticklish spot on my body. I thrashed underneath him as I tried to fight him off. "Leo!"

He suddenly kissed me, my hands flying to his hair as he kept his arms on either side of my waist. He was always warm, but now he was burning from all the exercise. I loved it. I tugged at one of his curls and he made a sound in the back of his throat that made me shudder. "Gentle." His voice was suddenly husky, his eyes boring into mine. "Or I'll have too..." And he ruined the moment, going back to tickling me ruthlessly while I was helpless beneath him. Maybe he didn't _ruin_ it exactly, but hey. I was having fun.

 **AN: I know it's short! But I needed to get it posted and I have trouble writing cute stuff right now without angst. I love you? Again, I do not know Spanish so this is google translated. I apologize if it's wrong.**

 **Translations (or what I hope they are):**

" **My mother taught me"**

" **I am very aware of your love for me but let me be clear on my love for you. It is young and it is a quiet flame, but as we both know my flames tend to get out of control. So I leave it unsaid in words you understand."**


	30. The Warmth of Family

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any of it's characters**

 **AN: I'm sorry if this isn't as long or as quickly updated as you all would have liked. I've been having a hard time these last few months and if you care to see them they'll be at the bottom.**

 _Hazel's POV_

I hadn't had blackouts since I shared my underworld experience with Frank, but that didn't mean my nightmares left me. I was well aware of what was happening, I knew it was having a nightmare but that did nothing to sway my panic as I watched Frank being taken away because my dad needed to switch a soul out for mine. It didn't stop me from watching Percy and Annabeth fading away because I didn't save them from the elevator fast enough. It didn't stop me from feeling the oil in my lungs and the stones cutting through my skin.

My breathing didn't even out until I had let my head rest on my knees for a few minutes after waking up, trying not to wake Frank who was curled up as a Bulldog like usual. It was his compromise as to not make me feel uncomfortable, something that made my heart soar with love for him. I moved out of bed as quietly as possible and tip toed across the floor until I was out of the room. I moved towards the kitchen for some water only to find that there were people all in different stages of waking up.

Nico was half asleep with his head on the counter as Thalia ran her fingers through his hair to calm him and Percy was getting a grouchy Annabeth some tea. "It seems we weren't the only ones, hello Hazel." Percy wrapped an arm around me and kissed my forehead and handed me a cup of mint tea.

"Nightmares all around I guess, the fates must be having fun tonight." Jason stumbled in and almost passed out as soon as he leaned on his sister. Piper was right behind him, looking like she was the one who woke him up from whatever was going on in his head. "I wanna sleep.."

Thalia petted his head too, both boys sighing in unison. If I didn't feel like my head was being pulled apart and my heart ripped out of my chest, I might have scrounged up a laugh or just even a smile. "I'm just glad Emily is a heavy sleeper."

I felt arms wrap around my waist causing me to almost jump a foot in the air, if not for the soft whine that escaped him when he buried his face in my hair. "Why didn't you wake me if we were going to have a party?" Frank basically engulfed me into a hug as he yawned over my head. "I'm totally awake enough for thi..."

Piper giggled before launching herself into the hallway faster than should be possible at midnight, hugging Leo close to her as his face disappeared into her shoulder. "Don't you dare ever run away from us again, you hear me?" She pulled away long enough to wipe away some of the tears on his face and to watch him nod before pulling him back to her. "Good."

And that's how we ended up in the living room talking about what we saw. For Jason it was Thalia and Leo falling off the bridge and him not being fast enough to save them, for Nico it was being in the jar and never waking up from his coma. It went around until it got to me, though I knew this was an optional thing. Leo didn't want to talk and neither did Percy or Annabeth, but no one judged. And so I knew I didn't have to tell them...But that just made me want to more.

"At first it was Pluto having to take away someone's soul in place of mine so ended up being Franks...Then he took away Nico because he should have died lots of times...Then it was Percy because the gods said he was too powerful and suddenly I was alone because the gods all had reasons for you dying. Then I "woke up" and you all were fine." I was curled up in Frank's lap as I spoke, Nico and Thalia on either side for my comfort and to watch Frank which was helping my nerves, since it was extremely funny to me. Now if you told me even at the beginning of this that I would be in this position, I would have blushed and walked away. But now, it just felt right. Not just sitting on him, though that was comfortable. More just being surrounded by my family. "It was great, we were all on the ship again and safe...Then suddenly I was in the cavern while you guys were in the elevator..." Percy and Annabeth tensed. "I couldn't save you in time...it was just one thing after the other."

Frank nuzzled my cheek like a dog, whining softly. "I'm sorry, I should have woken up." Suddenly I was on the couch by myself as he ran around and got stuff while we all watched in confusion. He stopped to drop a giant pile of pillows and blankets on the floor, grinning. "Well if none of us can sleep...might as well hang out here!"

Percy cheered as he dove into the pile, curling up quickly and dragging Thalia and me down with him. "Cuddles!" I tried to get away but suddenly I was mushed between him and Nico, with my head on Percy's stomach and Nico's on mine. Thalia crawled underneath us and rested her head on his shoulder, passing out almost immediately. "Annabeth?"

His girlfriend just smirked as Frank morphed into a black bear, just small enough not to take up the entire room. She reclined into his fur, sighing contently. "I'm not trying to pry you out of that, wake me up if you need anything."

Piper grabbed Leo who was next to her and suddenly they were curled up against Frank too, ignoring everyone who was awake. Jason just shrugged at them as he joined the cousin pile, letting Percy use his arm as a pillow while he rested his hand in my hair. If you had told me that I would end up cuddled with Nico and have three amazing cousins when I first met them, I would have laughed. I would have laughed at the beginning of the school year. But here I am, falling asleep to the sounds of their heart beats and the warmth of their bodies.

 _Calypso's POV_

I knew Leo had left at some point in the night but I was still nervous when I couldn't find him, but a smile broke through my lips as I stumbled into the living room to see the cuddle pile on the floor, though I almost mistook it for a pile of blankets.

It took me a minute, but I found Will in the kitchen sipping coffee like it was his only reason for living. "Mornin', I thou't you were still asleep." His hair was ruffled and matted it places, his eyes barely open as he sipped his "I'm a ray of sunshine" mug that Nico bought him for Christmas as a joke, only for Will to refuse to use any other mug.

"You won't believe what's in the living room." I dragged him over to them and put a finger to my lips as the shock turned into silent laughter. We were both giggling like idiots as I asked him to take pictures for me, Will took a few of them before doing silly pictures and a few...selfies? with sleepy Nico and the cousins.

I watched as the girls came in, everyone but Rachel yawning. She, on the other hand, was beaming. "I had a dream and you won't..." She squealed as she saw everyone on the floor, giggling as we all tried to shush her.

We froze as Percy shifted, blinking at us wearily. "Good morning. I can't move." I didn't know he could be more confused than with his feelings for Annabeth, but there it was. "Why are you guys laughing?"

 **AN #2: Hi. If you are reading this, thanks for caring enough to. Or being bored enough to. Well, I am reaching 3 months of being single. I was in a relationship for three years and it was my first. He has had a new girlfriend for the past 2 months and I have been learning how to deal with that. Then a freshman at my high school died of brain cancer. I didn't know him personally but my friends did and they were in a rough spot. My Great Uncle has cancer in his spine, lungs and a few other important places but he might be fine if they can get rid of the source. And I just recently found out one of the guys from my middle school has Leukemia. My sister is going off to another country and will be missing my birthday. My other sister doesn't like being home and probably won't be returning from college next year. I'm stressed.**


	31. Seperation

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or it's characters.**

 **An: GUYS I HAD AN IDEA AND I KINDA STARTED PLANNING THE NEXT TO STORIES IN THIS SERIES ALREADY AND "M DYING! ALSO TUMBLR GAVE ME SOME REALLY GOOD IDEAS SO I'M EXCITED! I feel less stressed but this summer has sucked $$. Some hits, some one time minor OC's will become important, BLUE HAIR DYE, and Leo is actually a ladies man. All the ladies actually love Leo. Also I planned out a scene for one of the last chapters of** _ **this**_ **story and I cried. I had to share it with my family I was so excited. But I have to finish this one first. Wish me luck...After this one, only nine more to go. Should be done before next summer depending on how motivated I am.**

 **BTW! If anyone has any ideas for them in college or where they should go, maybe what happens to the ones still in highschool, let me know. Just know I might use them and I'll try to add a note to the chapter it's in if I do. Love you all.**

"Sh...let him sleep. He's had a hard couple of days." Thalia stroked Percy's hair as he tried not to drool in her lap, sighing at her touch. Annabeth was passed out on Piper as the other girl did miniature braids in the blonde's hair. "You know Annie's going to have a hard time getting those out, right?"

Piper stuck her tongue out at the "older" girl and just continued braiding. "She was practicing her speech to Chiron last night, she wanted me to help her. I told her we both needed to pack but she didn't really listen. I felt bad watching her scrambling around this morning...but only a little." She giggled as she dodged a projectile from one of the girl's coming to Annabeth's defense.

"Don't make fun of sleeping people, they tend to listen better when their mouths can't move!" Calypso called from the back of the van, grinning as she noticed Argus winking at her. "See, he get's what I'm talking about!"

"Sh! I told you to let them sleep." Thalia rolled her eyes as the other girls quieted down to whispers, probably going to explode in a few minutes. But it was a few minutes of quiet. "So what was she thinking for New Greece? Cabins in the wood?" She tried not to laugh at her own joke, fully aware that she tended to be loud and shake a little. Percy waking up on the floor would not end well.

Piper had to cover her own mouth as she got out, "Actually on the beach." Once they had quieted themselves down, she grinned. "She was thinking of a few things actually, like turning part of Bunker Nine into apartments for the older Hephaestus kids for when they wanted to work on big projects, may be permanently move in if they wanted too. But she was going to talk to Leo, Cabin Nine and Chiron about that first. Then she was thinking of a few cabins on the beach line, for small families if we ever get any. Then an apartment building for visitors like a guest house. Maybe some on the inner edge of the hills that overlook the camp. She needs permission to even plan this stuff and she's already way ahead of the game."

Thalia imaged what it would be like if she one day walked into camp and there were little kids running around and old demigods teaching instead of seniors in high school. Or, would be seniors in high school. College students coming back with degrees and helping kids with their homework. If that had been the camp half blood she had first seen, the one that she walked into when she woke up...she might have...She was meant to be a hunter but...did she want to be one forever? Even after all of her friends grew old and died? Could she handle that?

"Hey Thals, you know thinking too much hurts your brain." And there was Emily smirking at her over the seat but her eyes held concern. She was a reminder that she could decide this later, when she didn't have to shock Percy because he rolled over and she finally noticed the dark spot on her new jeans. When she didn't have to kick him into the aisle because he was smirking when he woke up, Always smirking, the smug little shit. But she was always smiling around them, wasn't she?

 _Annabeth's POV_

"Okay, I can do this. I can do thing, right? It's not like he's going to hate me forever for making it seem like I want us to be more Roman, totally going to be okay with this..." I could feel the panic rising in my chest and almost constricting my throat. Chiron was going to hate the idea and she was going to die of embarrassment and what was she going to do with NYU and...

Percy kissed my forehead lightly and wrapped an arm around me, melting every bad thought out of my head for those few seconds. "You are going to do great and do you know why you are?" I shook my head in answer, but I knew it was probably going to be inspiring. "Because Chiron is too tired of losing campers to the real world and he'll understand you don't want to lose anyone else either. Besides, maybe we'll have enough experienced fighters at one point that no one below the age of sixteen will have to fight in the next war!"

I was wrong. He just made me more depressed. "Please don't talk when I'm trying to get him to say yes, I don't want to deal with an angry or crying Chiron." Actually getting on the topic was easy, getting what I wanted out of my mouth was what was hard. "So now that we're talking about architecture, I had something I wanted to talk to you about." I took a deep breath as Percy started playing with my fingers. Any other time it would have been distracting but he was actually helping right now. "I want to design New Greece. A place for older demigods to be safe and be away from monsters instead of living out in the world with nothing. It wouldn't all be full time, maybe apartments or small cabins. Just...something. And the adults could teach which would free up the time for the counselors so they wouldn't be so pressured. And with more adults around..."

"Annabeth, I don't know if we have the room for this. Where would all of this be? Who would actually want to stay here when they're older?" Chiron looked too tired for this and it dampened my excitement a little. Like this was a waste of his time.

Percy raised an eyebrow. "We've talked to all the counselors and they all said it was a great idea and that they might utilize it after college or during the summers. And Annabeth has some ideas that you can look at if you agree to think about it." If I didn't know any better, I would have said he was annoyed with Chiron for what he said.

"I was actually talking to Leo and he agreed to try something out with the bunker for the Hephaestus if you okay that. There's some unused space that's connected but not a big part of the workshop part of the bunker and we were thinking a few apartments for people who wanted to work in the shop. But they wouldn't have kitchens or anything so they'd have to come out at some point for food." That idea was Calypso's since she knew how forceful she had to be to get Leo out of there. Food was a great way of doing it.

"Unless they make their own kitchen..." Percy laughed as I smacked his stomach, sticking his tongue out at me for it. "What? You know that they could and would just to spite you. Probably even learn to cook too!"

I glared at him jokingly and pointed a finger to the door. "Get out Seaweed Brain, you're ruining this for me!"

I stomped through the Hades cabin and collapsed on the bed I had decided to all stay in here since we were all used to living together and Hades was kind enough to agree to it, and even sent us sleeping bags and cots. "Ugh...Why?"

Almost immediately I had twelve girls surrounding me and asking me what happened. "If he turned you down, I swear I will charmspeak him into sleepwalking. Grover told me he wears curlers in his tail..." Piper wiggled her eyebrows at me but there was anger in her eyes.

Before anyone else could threaten him, I sat up and wiped away the tears streaming down my cheeks. "Percy is in his cabin trying to contact his mom to see how she's doing, I think he needs to talk to her." I kept my face hidden and prepared for what they were going to say when I smirked and whispered, "Good news is meant to be shared you know."

"ANNABETH!"

 _Chris's POV_

"Why are we doing this?" It was a valid question because this was quite literally the single most ridiculous idea anyone had ever had. And it came from people I thought were sane. "There is no way we are having a sleepover." Nico had his arms crossed and head tilted, glaring at his boyfriend. "We already live in the same apartment and you share a room with me. Why?"

"Because it's fun!" Will wiggled his eyebrows as Frank came out with popcorn and a whole bunch of other treats for us, courtesy of Travis spending his entire paycheck at the grocery store. "Come on, the girls had one! I wasn't even invited because of y'all so you owe me."

I raised my eyebrows as I tried to imagine my girlfriend sitting around braiding hair and gossiping. "The girl's had a sleepover? And why would you be invited?" Will looked horrified at this topic of conversation, instead walking over to the movies and loudly asking about which movie they should watch. "Hercules was good..."

By some act of Apollo, five voices all jokingly chorused at once, "Honey, you mean _hunkules_." Frank was blushing horribly for being a part of it, my brothers were all high fiving because they were _so damn_ proud of themselves, and Leo was laughing from his spot on the floor in the a sleeping bag roll.

"What?" Jason and Nico looked at each other for a second before turning different shades of red and looking away. I knew Nico was from a different time period and probably had never seen any of these movies, but Jason? Why hadn't Jason seen them?

Will lit up like a christmas tree. "DISNEY MOVIE MARATHON! So I'm guessing you went to New Rome too young to remember having seen any of these and I forgot to show them to you so you haven't seen them. Make a list boys! Hercules is first!" He grinned as he brought out a pad of paper and wrote it down. "Then Tangled."

"You just like that movie because her hair glows because of the sun." Cecil stuck his tongue out at Will who retaliated, glaring at him. "Can't we play video games instead?" When Will just glared harder, he sighed. "Fine. Disney nerd. Aren't you older than me?"

"Yup. I still love these movies and Nico has never seen them before. Besides, Percy always makes us watch Nemo or the Little Mermaid. So they aren't options this time." Will scrunched his nose in disgust, remembering Annabeth ranting with him about it once.

Frank suggested they watch Brave and I just rolled my eyes. "Toy Story?" Everyone just glared at me for some reason, like it was a terrible thing to say. "What? They're coming out with a fourth one. Or we could watch the Incredibles..."

" **15 years too late!** " Travis and Leo started laughing again. "The release date for the sequel comes out 15 years after the first one." Leo explained quickly, sighing dramatically. "You two won't know the pain of waiting this long, it ends on a cliff hanger."

Will didn't get the movie marathon he wanted but we did watch a few to take pity on him, switching to more fun games after. "If you break the TV, I will not hold back either Clarisse or Annabeth when they find out." Connor decided it was probably better to put down the spear. Who knew I would be the responsible one who stopped everyone from destroying the house, threatening everyone with their girlfriends or sisters, or even Sally if they didn't behave. Of course it was mostly keeping things from breaking and life threatening stuff, but if Frank wanted to make himself a milkshake and chug it down with his medication as we all chanted "chug, chug, chug!", I wasn't going to say anything. Unless he started puking, then I'd call Annabeth.

The funny part of it all was watching everyone literally crash from all the sugar and screaming they did. Will literally ended up falling asleep on top of Nico because he was trying to wake him up, Jason sat down and just never got up again, Travis and Cecil wrestled each other onto the couch before falling asleep mid fight, Cecil rolling off the couch onto the pillows they had knocked off. Frank was dared to transform into a bunch of different animals so he was sleeping standing up as a flamingo in the corner. Leo was one of the last ones to fall asleep, fighting it until I was curled up in a sleeping bag too. "Dude. Not going to give you a sharpie mustache."

"No but I should give you one for ruining all my fun." I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from telling him, _microwaving water and oil and then lighting it on fire was not going to be fun, since none of us can flirt with the firefighters that would be called_. "Night Chris..."

"Night Dad!" They all sleepily chorused like they didn't plan it when I went to the bathroom, making me smile. _Just like home_.

 **AN: I don't know how to write for boys sleepovers. I am not a guy. But I assumed it was kind of the same? Like you do a bunch of stupid stuff and one of you tries to keep anything from lighting on fire, maybe watch some movies. Hope you liked the update. I had a free day and I pounded this out in six hours so I'm proud of myself. That time also includes a break for dinner, not including the Thalia part because I actually did try to work on this at one point before today. And about my stress, I'm dealing with it. Kind of. I struggle with being alone for long periods of time because there's no distractions which is why I usually write at this point, but for the past few times I've had anxiety attacks. Today I went the whole time without having one or breaking down and I'm proud of myself. Thank you all for the support of my story and me.**


	32. Little Sisters

**Disclaimer: I do not own the percy jackson series or any of its characters. The only things I own are the plot and the characters you don't recognize because they are mine and I don't publish stuff.**

 **An: I'm sorry this is coming so late, I have very little motivation right now. My Great Uncle did pass away and as it turns out it's because his basement was letting radiation in cause it was dirt and that's the reason his wife died to. My life is easier right now and I'm usually calmer but I'm a bit dramatic and something will happen and I'll blow it out of proportion.**

 _Cecil's POV_

I was not close with most of my family because of my usual year round stay at camp half blood. Did I visit? Duh, my mother would have had my head if I didn't. But it was just her and my sister waiting for me back home, no matter how many cousins my aunts popped out or how many college kids used my room when they decide "I don't think I like the feel of this one anymore, Nana will just have to pay for a _different_ one" which they know she'll gladly do with a sad smile because at least they're going to college, right?

"And then Marissa screamed because she was so scared of the yak we were getting a ride from. Apparently she doesn't even see her own shit." That word sounded wrong coming out of her mouth, like something a child might say that you don't really understand but get what they're trying to say. "Mom says I shouldn't say that word but I mean that's what...Cecil? Who was that girl?" Her eyes weren't like saucers as the stories tell you, they squinted slightly like she was confused and her mouth pressed into a thin line. "Cecil, who was that girl?

I used to tell her stories of witches and fairies with magic hair but that changed into goddess with winning smiles and daggers for teeth that sank into anyone who got too close. And my sister with her raised eyebrows took that to mean she was right, and love was just a game we were thrown into and the people cruel enough to manipulate it always won. "That was Reyna, she's stealing my t shirts again."

"Hey, you wanna do your own woodshop project or not! Pendejo..." But she was smiling as she waltzed by the camera in my t shirt and ruffled my curls. "Oso de peluche can not do his own homework so I have to help him."

"Hey, I cook you food when Leo just wants to feed you tacos cause he's too tired to try!" I whacked at her legs as she finally left, shouting something about us being even. Nico might have been the one to introduce us, but I think he now regrets it. She basically adopted me as a younger brother and even Hylla treats me like it. "Reyna is not my girlfriend."

Olivia just smirked. "Not yet she isn't, but the way she was swinging those hips she might as well be." She looked confused when I groaned and face planted into the pillow my computer was on.

"I don't have enough time to tell you how wrong you are!" I glanced up to see Lou Ellen grinning at me from the doorway with a cup of hot coco. It might have been into spring but everyone be damned if she didn't get to enjoy her favorite drink. "Well aren't you a little bit of sunshine, you going to blind me or leave me to my misery?"

Lou flipped me off and almost left before deciding against it and walking over to where I was on the floor. "Hey Olivia, I'm Lou..." She frowned as my sister held up her finger and reached over to grab something off her desk, which was in view and had nothing on it. I could feel her tensing and trying to leave but then my arm was around her shoulder and she was stuck.

"Sorry honey, I guess I..." Olivia turned around with a small smirk on her face until she saw my arm keeping Lou firmly in place. It didn't matter if she looked uncomfortable, it meant that I wanted her there. And Olivia was not okay with that. "I guess I should leave you to be then."

"I think we're fine just chatting with you, if you want to talk. I was telling Lou about you earlier." Now it was in her court. If she wanted to sign off, it was her who was angry and petty and she couldn't go blaming Lou to mom. But if she stayed, she would have to deal with the bright hair and chopsticks, the crooked smile and the eyes that weren't the right color. No, my sister was not judgmental to my friends. Sure she was an ass, but that didn't mean she wasn't an ass to me. But that arm staked a claim that she was angry with.

Lou didn't see any of this but the challenge was in her eyes. "Were you now? I hope it was nothing bad, you are such a dick sometimes especially around your girls. Likes to show off, he does." The little shit.

"Oh, I know. Whenever his other sisters are around it's like he's a completely different person. Of course only the new kids at camp don't know there is literally no way he's scary, under any circumstances." Everything was going fine and she might have even laughed at that last sentence, but she didn't like my _other_ sisters.

"Your sister hates me." When the screen was black with a little Festus flying around the screen, I could see our reflections. I looked tired. She had a pout to her lips and her eyes were more slanted than normal like her tears were dragging them down with her even though they hadn't fallen yet. "Why doesn't she like me?"

 _Because you don't look like us, because you have hair that magically changes colors and your eyes hold magic._ "Because she doesn't like this part of my life, she doesn't understand. But I want you to be in all parts of my life, so she'll just have to learn to love you. It's not really that hard..."

She leaned her forehead on my shoulder and sighed, her breath tickling my arm. "Maybe." Lou stayed like that for a second as she took shaky breaths and composed herself, finally pulling away with a smile and climbing to her feet. "Come on, we should get going."

"Where are we going exactly?" She rolled her eyes as my smile grew. I still don't know how I hadn't been fired yet. I guess standing there and answering questions meant I couldn't break anything...Or not.

Reyna was pacing in front of me with this look that told me I was dead in more ways than one if I didn't explain what just happened. "Tell me again, breathe." Apparently there was this self proclaimed gang that didn't actually do shit except act like shits to everyone and sometimes make themselves a problem for store owners. But today they decided to bother the store I worked at, coming in and lifting their shirts just enough to let us know they were armed, though not threateningly enough that they could get the cops called on them. I couldn't tell if they were real or not but I was done with them. I was helping this girl whose phone was going haywire, totally a demigod, when one of them just grabbed her. I got in between them and asked him to "please leave, we don't encourage that kind of behavior in this store." When he tried to shove me, I moved away and went back to work because he seriously wasn't worth my time. Of course that pissed him off and he tried to throw a punch, clipped the back of my head too. He ended up with his arms tied behind him with a phone charger and his leg pinned between mine. "Did he get away with all that?"

"He was white."

 _Lou's POV_

Cecil was kind of shut off for a while after that. He mostly just did school work and tried to pretend he was fine. Not even when his sister came for a visit did his demeanor change, he simply smiled more fakely and ignored everyone else more. No, she did not stay with us and no she wasn't aware that we shared a room because even though the gods were whatever with our sleeping arrangements because they were gods and from Ancient Greece where eighteen year olds got married, we were pretty sure our mortal parents wouldn't be as approving or encouraging.

"Stop looking at me like that or I swear to god you will wish you didn't exist." I glared at him from across the table, glad that his expression changed from that stupid pity look like i was some breakable toy. "Fuck off asshole."

He was my partner for some class I didn't even remember and he was apparently the love guru. "Honey, that boy needs to see what he's missing. He's a lying little shit who might be cheating on you, babe. Cut that loose while it's still flapping in the wind..." And he was a terrible human being who I wanted to murder. Was murder allowed if I turned him into a pig and sent him to a slaughter house? Or handed him to Clarisse? Same thing I guess, but at least the bones get used with one of them... "Are you listening?"

 _No, I'm daydreaming about your bloody demise._ From his expression, I guess I said that outloud. Whoops. Don't mess with my boyfriend, no matter how pissed at him I am. I will fucking fight you. And as a demigod, I'd like to think I have a way higher chance of surviving that encounter.

Leaving the library, I wasn't expecting to be called into the principal's office. I wasn't expecting for Cecil and someone I'd never seen before sitting in chairs with the only empty one between them. "My sister got attacked. She's in the hospital." _Fuck._

 **An: This was literally written to get it posted and I apologize for that. I hope you still like it and I hope to improve my quality in the future.**


	33. We're Not Perfect, But Good Enough

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series or any of its characters. Rick Riordan does. I don't think I could handle Piper or Alex.**

 **AN: I know that this is very late, it's been almost two months since my last one and it ended on a cliffhanger or something startling, I don't know what to call it. Anyway I want to apologize for taking so long and I wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited and followed this story. It makes me extremely happy to see them. This story is wrapping up soon, if I continue with updating once a month I'll be done before next summer, maybe around May. I have every chapter after this planned out, one of them started and another finished. If this goes really well, I might finish before then. Right now I'm going through the process of reporting my abuser to my school so that he won't be in any of my classes and I can have a spot in the school he isn't allowed (even if he avoids me after he broke up with me, it's an anxiety thing). I have a full plate so if I don't update as regularly as I want to, that's why.**

 _Hazel's POV_

I was angry. I was tired. I was sleep deprived from nightmares that left me sweating on the roof as I swung a sword I hadn't killed with in almost a year. It scared me how much I wanted to kill something, how much I needed that adrenaline running through me as I took out all of my anger on something made of evil. I wanted to see that spoil of battle on the ground, place it outside as a warning...a challenge. I wanted to go hunting.

"Let's do something fun today." It was the weekend and almost everyone was gone. Jason got called to Camp Jupiter because he needed to do more work on his statutes, some of them were visiting Cecil's sister in the hospital and some were there for checkups. Chris was still being affected by his head injury and Calypso started having asthma attacks from the smoke damage to her lungs. And there I was, sitting on my butt doing homework while Frank blocked the TV. "We need a break."

"I had a break after school yesterday, I went riding again." I tried to ignore him but it was hard to ignore someone who was twice your size and boring holes into your forehead. "At the very least you could let me pause it." Frank just raised an eyebrow and waited. "I'm sorry, I'm just..."

"Tired. I know." Frank let his head dip for a second as he gathered his thoughts. "You think I haven't noticed you leaving? You think I don't know that you go up there and swing around your sword like you have something to prove."

 _Oh._ Suddenly the hawk that was starting to make a nest on the roof made sense, Frank keeping an me like he always does. "I'm sorry. What did you want...?"

"I love you, I love you, I love you!" Having the fastest horse alive meant that a visit to Vancouver was no problem, and having the best boyfriend alive meant that an impromptu hunting trip was a breeze with enough time to be back for Sunday night dinner. "Sorry, sorr..." I smirked into the kiss as he wrapped an arm around my waist to keep me steady.

Frank might not be like every teenage guy on the planet, even like the rest of the guys in the group. But he had gotten more comfortable in his own skin, made jokes more that left me in stitches and was more confident with his affection towards me. "I know you're excited but I need you to take a breath, you don't listen well." I felt my cheeks burn under my protective curtain of hair. "Okay. We aren't game hunting, we're monster hunting. There's something out here that's been going by my grandmother's place and tripping the alarms. Of course the local police say it's either an animal or a bum. Course they can't see monsters, can they?"

I grinned up at him. "This is going to be fun." And I was right on the half of it, except it was totally boring in the beginning. We just walked around in the snow, bundled tightly in parkas, snow pants that rubbed together and made weird noises, snow boots that dragged our feet and scarves that scratched my chin. "When are we going to get to the fun part?"

"When you stop whining!" He bumped me with his hip and beamed from under his hood to let me know he was kidding. He pulled down his scarf to kiss my forehead, his cold lips making me shiver. "You're really warm..." He bent down and suddenly his entire face was pressed against my neck and oh my gods it was _cold!_

I tried to shove him off but he whined and ended up tripping on something, dragging me down with him so my nose could collide with his jaw. "Ow!" I looked up and laughed, enjoying the look on his face. "Come on Frank..." The half glaring and half done look was suddenly gone as I moved up to kiss him on the lips, smiling as his arms pulled me closer. We ignored the slight squeal from the air dissipating from our jackets which almost ruined the moment; until I pulled away leaving him to pout on the ground.

"Don't move." Frank was suddenly behind me, digging through the snow and making triumphant noises. "Haze, we found something. You wanted something fun..." He dragged a block of...something out to the surface. It looked charred and mangled, it somehow reminded me of Leo whenever he works on Festus. "It's too damaged for anything so it probably ditched it, or wanted to hide it for later."

I watched him transform into something big and white; a dark nose protruding out as he sneezed. I laughed as I watched this terrifying polar bear start sneezing, his mouth wrinkling in a strange way as he tried to breathe correctly. "Babe you look ridiculous..." I tried smothering the giggles trying to pry their way out between my lips but they were stubborn and got away from me anyway.

He collapsed onto his stomach, his nose nudging and toying with the block to try and find a scent to track. When I started petting his fur, he leaned in and nudged me with his head. I grinned as I climbed onto his back and curled myself into his warm fur. He huffed like, _or you could do that_ , but stood anyway and started running.

"I always wanted to know what Lyra felt like, now I know." It was whispered out to nothing but the screeching wind that ripped at my cheeks and dragged nails of snow across my exposed neck. One of my mortal friends had convinced me to struggle through Golden Compass and boy was it worth it, it was hard for me to put it down for awhile and Frank joked that I had found a new love of my life. I was so flustered back then...

I almost fell off when he stopped suddenly, his claws digging into anything they could find to stop us from moving forward anymore. The entrance was small, blocked by falling snow and the actual nest was mostly disorienty to try to find, it blended easily in with the mounds of snow and ice. "Do you think it's a gryphon?"

He rolled his shoulders and growled lowly, shaking his head. It was harder to read him when he was like this, his body language was different, but as for as I could guess he thought it was. He let me drop from his back into the snow so I could walk next to him, swinging my sword loosely by my side to warm up my hands and wrists.

As we walked through the tunnel of snow towards the real nest, we found everything from coins to watches to car pats to actual gems. None of it was fake or painted to look metalic, everything was either made of it or had metal in the paint. The space felt like it was closing in, to similar to the cave I had died in during my first life, especially with a giant polar bear taking up most of the space. "Breathe, Hazel, breathe."

"Or don't, I would much prefer your death to be entertainment rather than my own work. I'm tired you see and playing with demigods just isn't fun anymore so it's not worth the energy..." The voice was soft and feminine which Hazel found strange, gryphons didn't talk. "Pet doesn't want to fight."

My mind wasn't quite processing the change in temperature as we stumbled into the open part of the cave. It was hot, above freezing at the least, with fires lining the room and a gryphon panting in the corner. "Is pet the gryphon over there because they look ready to pass out from heat stroke, they won't be fighting anything anytime soon." I wiped sweat from my forehead as I took off my outer layers, unable to handle it much longer.

"Pet will fight if I tell him too. Just as your will fight if you need him too, isn't that right Frank Zhang?" Something in her voice was off but well masked enough to not let me know who she was. "Demigods, always so...easy, to manipulate. Just have a pretty voice, scare the people enough and they'll come running to you. And you did, yesss...?"

 _How is she alive in this weather? How did she get here?_ Then it hit me why there were so many fires, why the slope of the cave was so strange, why she was able to control the gryphon so easily. Oh the poor thing, she had what it wanted and it couldn't stop her. Survival was a very good motive. "You know, I always thought it was just them being misunderstood when snakes were described as evil. But I guess it was just the memory of your kind ingrained into our instincts."

There was no warning when the pitiful creature that had been laying down looking half dead suddenly charged them, roaring as it extended its claws. Frank was there first, colliding with it and meeting every blow with one of his own.

I didn't have time to focus on them and make sure he was the stronger opponent, she was moving over to me at faster speeds than I would have thought for someone of her species. I suddenly wished I had a different type of sword. "Come at me, reptile."

The dracaena before me had thicker legs than most of the ones I'd fought before, her face was stronger jawed and her smile held more teeth. "I take that word as a compliment, witch. Your kind doesn't do well with fire if I remember correctly." She had a dagger raised to protect her face and chest as she swung her sword easily, tauntingly asking me to make the first move.

Every instinct in my body told me to wait, humans and demigods were made to be pursuit predators. We weren't the fastest or the strongest, so we let our targets weaken themselves and let their endurance run out before attacking still at almost peak strength. But I was done waiting for something to come attack. I shortened the distance between us in a few easy steps, swiping at her side.

"Tsssk, tssk, demigod. So impatient. So ready for a fight. You have no idea what's coming for you." She blocked with her dagger, meeting every strike and directing my dodges towards the fire. "Do you want to know what's going to happen to your friends? How hungry mother is? Percy Jackson defeated a god at twelve years old and yet he ran away from her instead of protecting the people he was with. How do you think you'll fair? Will you be just as cowardly? Will you submit like you always do?"

I tried to ignore her words and focus on my swings, but each nick on my body from her blade stung less than her words. I was out of practice in every sense of the word, my anger was making it harder to focus on the way her body tensed. I hissed as the flat of her blade smacked my cheek, leaving the taste of blood in my mouth. "I submit to no one, not even Death himself." I spit red onto the pristine snow walls and snarled as I pressed away from the flames licking at my calfs, all of that precious metal she forced her _pet_ to collect shaking with my control.

"No. You just have your father protect you so he can try and convince himself he cares about a little black bitch he wishes stayed dead." Every insult, every rock, every comment on my temper and every time I'd held back because I didn't have the choice not to broke through my chest and screamed. Percy was always left dry when he used his powers but mine were angry at everything. My father, the world, the people at school, my friends and most of all me for suppressing them. So when I let go, they attacked everything.

 _Frank's POV_

The first time I met Hazel, I didn't understand why everyone was so afraid of her. Yeah, she could probably kill you if she wanted to but so could everyone else at camp. They were trained to kill, trained to fight even while everyone you loved was dying around you because you couldn't let their deaths be in vain. But then he got to know her and there were things that he started to understand, reasons people should be wary of Hazel. Not because of her personality, her parentage or what year she was born or died. None of that was what made her scary.

Nico mentioned how Hades' children had a problem with grudges, but I knew that wasn't true. It didn't matter if they were born to Hades' or Pluto, they had a problem with holding onto things too long. Angry, memories, the past...And depending on why it happened, letting go for them could be deadly.

"Hazel!" I had changed back to human part way through the fight, my jacket torn off my body and my thick snow pants torn to shreds somewhere on the ground. I was lucky that the monster I was fighting was tired, but my advantage didn't lat long as the heat took its toll on me too. I was scratched up, my muscles ached and my vision was starting to blur when I heard her scream. Everything froze for a second as all eyes fell on her, the fight being ripped from my body as I watched her fall to her knees. I thought she was badly injured, I thought the dracaena had won the fight.

I was wrong. Very, very, very wrong. The frozen moment broke when suddenly the room was plunged into darkness as all the metal in the room reacted to her powers. It forced the gryphon and me back, leaving puncture and scratch wounds. It wasn't just that the objects were sharp, it was like they were attacking as they got us away from the fight. Not enough to kill, but enough to make it very clear we would need a trip to the infirmary later.

I couldn't see through the whirling snow, water and metal that started to close around where Hazel and the monster she was fighting were the last time I had a chance to look. "Hazel!" I tried to push forward but it was like quicksand, the more I fought the harder it fought back. I was pushed flat against the snow, my head forced to the side. At least the fire was out from the wind, but the hot remains lapped at my boots. _We're going to die._

Then it all stopped. Everything froze where it was as if someone had sat on the remote while watching a movie. With the release of a breath, it all flew out of the cave and probably back to where it came from in the first place. Or maybe to another gryphon's nest, just to piss the snake lady off.

I was quickly proved wrong on the last part as my vision cleared enough to see the remains of her body torn to shreds. Her chest was still moving, her eyes far away as the last of her strength left and her body dissolved into dust save the weapons she used and her severed tongue. "Hazel?"

She was on her knees, staring blankly at the spot where the monster once was. She was worse off than I was to my surprise, and concern. Her cheek looked like a reopened wound that had the thick stitched pulled out, her hair was cut jaggedly like a kindergartener had taken safety scissors to it. Her clothes were red with blood, torn to rags as her chapped lips turned blue from the cold now seeping through without the fire. "Let's go home. He'll follow us out of the cave then follow the trail I made to an empty nest, take his egg with him."

While we waited for Arion, I bandaged as much as I could of her worst wounds while slowly feeding her nectar and ambrosia. The second I was done I started wrapping her in layers, her skin was already too cold from the sudden change in temperature under my hands. "I'm sorry about your cuts, I didn't have full control over my powers."

I was startled when she started talking out of nowhere, she'd been silent since she'd asked to go back home. But what worried me the most was the way her phrases sounded like two different sentences instead of an apology and an explanation. "I'm more worried about you right now." Both of us knew that I wasn't talking about our cuts or bruises, but we left it behind in favor of more silence for fear of what would happen if we talked about it. I almost sighed in relief when a breeze tickled the back of my neck, Arion complaining in his own way about the cold as he waited for us to climb onto his back.

It wasn't much better when we got to the apartment, everyone was surprised we were back so soon the next morning when the found us drinking hot chocolate to warm ourselves and busy our mouths. "Tracking is easy when you have the Canadian version of a bloodhound with you. And fights go faster when monsters stay dead." Hazel was trying to joke, she even gave them all a smile, but it wasn't fooling anyone. You can't fool the people that know you best.

When she disappeared, claiming she wanted to shower off the fight, everyone who was awake turned to look at me. Percy was concerned for both of us, the other girls from the original seven torn between anger and as if one of us had hurt the other and they weren't sure who, and Nico was burying his emotions. "What happened exactly? You guys were so excited when you left..."

"We got there and I told her what we were doing, she was all excited. We went around town and asked for basic information before going to my old house to look for clues. Tracking took us a while since it's rage was about a twenty mile radius, which was weird. We got to the nest, fought a monster that was controlling a gryphon and bandaged our wounds. Came back here and made hot chocolate. Which is now cold." I dumped the last bit of my drink down the sink, pushing past everyone to go to my room. I was cold, tired and sore. All I wanted was a nap and for this all to be over with.

"I'm sorry." Hazel was leaning on the door when I left the closet from changing after my own shower. Her bandages for major wounds were replaced, the ones for smaller wounds that had healed since we got back were removed. Her hair was throw up into a small pony tail, strands too short now to be pulled back falling around her face.

I almost ignored her as I moved over to the bed, sitting down on something soft for once that day. "You say that a lot, you know." I watched her flinch from my tone but I couldn't bring myself to care that much. Yes I still wanted her to be happy but she needed to know I was upset.

She slouched against the wood, her head falling back so she wasn't looking at me. "I really am sorry for my powers hurting you, and for the way I acted when the fight was over." Her hands were playing with the seam of her shirt...actually that one was mine, I recognized it the longer I looked at her.

"Thank you for apologizing. Are you going to explain, too?" She flinched again, her fingers freezing for a second before continuing to tug and toy with the shirt she was wearing. "I'm not mad at you for your powers. I'm not mad that you need time to process what happened. But lying and avoiding me, that hurts and it makes me think you don't trust me with this." Hazel almost looked angry as her eyes finally met mine, but she calmed herself. "You can be angry, at least then you'll tell me what you're thinking." It was my turn to flinch, I didn't mean to snap at her.

"You want me angry? Fine." She pushed herself off the door with her foot, coming to stand in front of me so she could look me in the eye. "I'm angry with the world because all of us have been attacked in some way this year and we're supposed to be safe. Katie, Calypso, Chris, Cecil's sister...all of them have been to the hospital. I was suffocated, Will was locked in a room and forced to listen to screaming, Jason was almost drowned, Percy and Annabeth were forced to relive Tartarus, Drew was almost _raped_. Do you remember the Halloween dance? Because I do! Everyone in that school seems to forget all this shit that's happened to us!" There were tears streaming down her cheeks as she wiped them away with her fists. "But what's worse is everyone else seems to have found something to distract themselves with. Percy, you, Will, the Stolls, Chris and Cecil and work at the mall, Katie helps out at a flower shop. Thalia and Calypso sell cookies at the school, which they've avoided getting in trouble for _so_ many times. Rachel basically runs Key Club, Reyna and Jason are on student council, everyone else is doing sports...And here I am. I quit horseback riding because I got into a fight with the person loaning us the horses. My mortal friends are terrible at making plans outside of school. I'm just here at this point."

I waited until there was a long enough pause that I knew she was done. "I'm angry about all of our friends being hurt too, I'm angry that you got hurt. But you know what? I can't do anything about it sitting around and _being_ angry. So I let it go and I'm helping Annabeth run through suspects. I'm doing something." I ran a hand through my hair as I tried to calm my breathing. "Hazel, it's unfair for you to be angry with us for finding distractions. I'm not saying it's invalid for you to hate being the only one but you can't just blame us for it." She deflated in front of my eyes. "Does this have something to do with what happened in Canada?"

"I suppressed my powers too long. And I guess I suppressed my anger too so they both just..." She stared at her palms before clenching her fists again. "I'm not going to just magically stop being angry about this stuff, but I'll try to let it go or work it out on practice dummies."

It wasn't perfect, but it was a start. "Okay. And I'll help if I can. Come here..." I reached for her hands to pull her into a hug, but my arms were full before I could even touch her first. She curled up on my lap and buried her face in my neck as she squeezed my waist. I smiled softly into her hair as I hugged her back.

We weren't perfect. We got angry, we fought and we had a whole lot of shit to work through. But gods did I love her and I was going to do everything to let her know that, even if I couldn't find the words to say it yet.

 **AN (II): I NEED YOUR HELP! Vote in either the reviews or message me. I can do the next two chapters in either Reyna, Cecil or Nyssa's POV. The one with the most votes will get the next chapter and the second most will get the one after that. Thanks! I hope you have enjoyed my story so far, I might go back and beta previous chapters once it's done but otherwise I have six more chapters to do.**


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